B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Has $145.24 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 754,386 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 23,587 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.9% of B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $145,242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. VanderPol Investments L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $653,000. Walden Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $7,065,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $21,437,000. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $27,105,000. Finally, Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $1,713,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 2.0 %

AAPL opened at $216.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $220.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $184.73 and a 200 day moving average of $184.19.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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

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.