Private Management Group Inc. Acquires 895 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Private Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,555 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 895 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was 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 directly owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 371,270 shares of company stock valued at $64,605,696 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.44.

Apple Stock Up 1.7 %

AAPL opened at $189.98 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. 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 cap of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $175.89 and its 200 day moving average is $183.04.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

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.