Syverson Strege & Co Has $2.04 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Syverson Strege & Co grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 39.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,305 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 0.7% of Syverson Strege & Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Syverson Strege & Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,042,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First American Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of Apple by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. First American Trust FSB now owns 260,899 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $65,335,000 after buying an additional 18,517 shares during the period. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA increased its stake in shares of Apple by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA now owns 25,829 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,468,000 after buying an additional 7,908 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 120,795 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $30,249,000 after buying an additional 14,165 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 38,193 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,562,000 after buying an additional 3,084 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,504,403 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,633,873,000 after buying an additional 629,536 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Up 0.8%

Apple stock opened at $203.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day moving average is $202.29 and its 200-day moving average is $224.69. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for 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%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan 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 plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, May 12th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.