Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Buys 2,399 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 20.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,097 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,399 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.0% of Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,417,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $210.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $192.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.40.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 this link. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s 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 owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were 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 owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Apple Company 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.