Surience Private Wealth LLC Buys Shares of 18,327 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Surience Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,327 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $4,589,000. Apple accounts for approximately 5.9% of Surience Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

AAPL opened at $237.30 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $239.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $233.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.67, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America upped their price target on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.88.

About Apple

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.