Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Raised by Market Street Wealth Management Advisors LLC

Market Street Wealth Management Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,825 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 959 shares during the period. Market Street Wealth Management Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 69.0% during the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in Apple by 70.2% during the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 27.7% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $111,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $183.05 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.47, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.94.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding 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 usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $196.00 price objective (up previously from $189.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 3rd. DZ Bank restated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Apple

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.