Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC

FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,938 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 775 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.4% of FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,562,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after buying an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 132.8% during the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Melius Research lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $213.25 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $189.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.94. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $220.20. The firm has a market cap of $3.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.16, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.