Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 13,662 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,630,000. Apple comprises about 2.5% of Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Headinvest LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,461,000 after purchasing an additional 10,425 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $829,240,000 after purchasing an additional 279,311 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 37,178 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 808,709 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $155,701,000 after purchasing an additional 112,980 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. DZ Bank restated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.44.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 371,270 shares of company stock worth $64,605,696 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $189.98 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $199.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $175.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $183.04.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The company 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.