Lane & Associates LLC Acquires 1,246 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lane & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,017 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,246 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.1% of Lane & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after purchasing an additional 5,331,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $560,388,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush lifted their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. 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. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $216.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $210.62 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $220.20. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $192.13 and a 200 day moving average of $185.46.

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 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 company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its board has initiated a share 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 purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership 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.