Advisory Alpha LLC Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 23.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 83,604 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 15,884 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 69.0% during the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC boosted its position in Apple by 118.0% during the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in Apple by 70.2% during the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 27.7% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $132,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $169.89 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.80 and a 12-month high of $199.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.46, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $173.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was 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 directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.05.

Apple Company 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.