Mills Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mills Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the quarter. Mills Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $292,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth $110,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, 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 have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $197.49 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $208.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $227.64. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.35, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reissued a “cautious” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. KeyCorp raised Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

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.