Bouchey Financial Group Ltd Raises Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bouchey Financial Group Ltd lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 289,725 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 9,466 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 6.3% of Bouchey Financial Group Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd’s holdings in Apple were worth $72,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 91,568,390 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,335,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,087 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Apple from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “cautious” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $197.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $208.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.64. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Company 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.