Nova R Wealth Inc. Has $5.78 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Nova R Wealth Inc. cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,717 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 177 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.0% of Nova R Wealth Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Nova R Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wyrmwood Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 69.0% during the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its position in Apple by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 657.1% during the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $85,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $210.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.40. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $220.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $196.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $216.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.71.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.