Central Valley Advisors LLC Acquires 544 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Central Valley Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 64,950 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 5.8% of Central Valley Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Central Valley Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,137,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management raised its position in Apple by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,173,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Asset Planning Corporation raised its holdings in Apple by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $210.62 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $220.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $192.13 and a 200-day moving average of $185.31.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. 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. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’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 $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 247,087 shares of company stock worth $44,016,111 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

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.