Veridan Wealth LLC Makes New $1.44 Million Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Veridan Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,308 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,438,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $197.49 on Friday. The stock 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. The business’s fifty day moving average is $208.83 and its 200-day moving average is $227.64. 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 one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

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

Apple announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. China Renaissance assumed coverage on Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $235.80.

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.