Prentice Wealth Management LLC Has $2.55 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,841 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Apple makes up 0.9% of Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC lifted its position in Apple by 23,076.4% during the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,815,594,000 after buying an additional 5,331,439 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the 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 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 SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the 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 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $216.75 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $220.20. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $192.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.31. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Melius Research boosted their price objective on Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

About Apple

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.