Prentice Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Prentice Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,841 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 0.9% of Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 69.0% during the 4th 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. Gilfoyle & Co LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 118.0% during the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $85,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Melius Research lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Maxim Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $196.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $216.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $192.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $220.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.