Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC

Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 112,254 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the period. Apple makes up 11.6% of Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $19,249,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $85,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. Maxim Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. One research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $221.55 on Friday. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $195.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.85. The company has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $221.55.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders 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 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 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 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.