EP Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 94,188 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,786,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 94,188 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 4.4% of EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $343,986,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Curtis Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Curtis Advisory Group LLC now owns 46,342 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,934,000 after acquiring an additional 5,135 shares during the period. Trust Co of Kansas lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of Kansas now owns 20,186 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,456,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 52.5% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 799,459 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,875,000 after acquiring an additional 275,156 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 765,664 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $131,089,000 after acquiring an additional 46,400 shares during the period. Finally, Kinsale Capital Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 16,912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,896,000 after acquiring an additional 4,930 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on AAPL shares. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Wedbush raised their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $196.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Maxim Group initiated coverage on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly 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 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $1.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $212.49. 70,122,748 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 64,600,812. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $183.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.05, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. 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 fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a $0.25 dividend. 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 0.47%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.