Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc Increases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,488 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 120 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 0.8% of Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 132.8% during the fourth quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 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 research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. DZ Bank reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $213.25 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $220.20. The company has a 50-day moving average of $189.37 and a 200 day moving average of $184.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.16, a PEG ratio of 2.54 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share 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 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 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current 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 was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.