Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Boosted by Strong Tower Advisory Services

Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 50,005 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,110 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 3.5% of Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in Apple were worth $8,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after buying an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Melius Research upped their target price on shares of Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $210.62 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $192.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.40. 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 $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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.