Friedenthal Financial Buys Shares of 578 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $111,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in 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 buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,815,594,000 after purchasing an additional 5,331,439 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $560,388,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at $487,435,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in Apple by 6.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,519,244,000 after buying an additional 2,826,709 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $184.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $199.62. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.79. The firm has a market cap of $2.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26.

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. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 yield of 0.54%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.