Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Lifted by Wedmont Private Capital

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 194,179 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,179 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.4% of Wedmont Private Capital’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Apple were worth $32,946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Apple by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 99,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $17,004,000 after purchasing an additional 13,138 shares during the last quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. now owns 40,212 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,885,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 44,216 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,570,000 after acquiring an additional 3,912 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35,970 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,158,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the period. Finally, Markel Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 1,221,890 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $209,200,000 after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $207.49 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $220.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.27, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in 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 an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. DZ Bank reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.38.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related 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 value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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 at the SEC website. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.