West Paces Advisors Inc. Purchases 238 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,281 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.1% of West Paces Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 132.8% in the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Maxim Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $216.75 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $220.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.31.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management 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.