Fairman Group LLC Makes New Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fairman Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,025,000. Apple makes up approximately 1.0% of Fairman Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018,010 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $214.29 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $220.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.36.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $216.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, DZ Bank reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.06.

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.