Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by Compass Financial Group INC SD

Compass Financial Group INC SD boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,893 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 0.6% of Compass Financial Group INC SD’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Compass Financial Group INC SD’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $196.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. 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. Canaccord Genuity Group raised 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 Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $207.49 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 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 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $220.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $187.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.75.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.