Epiq Partners LLC Raises Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Epiq Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,183 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,862 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.0% of Epiq Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Epiq Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC now owns 12,062 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,068,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 39.8% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 201,982 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,636,000 after acquiring an additional 57,456 shares during the period. Affiance Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Affiance Financial LLC now owns 51,286 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,243 shares during the period. Clarity Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 15.5% in the first quarter. Clarity Financial LLC now owns 138,700 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $23,784,000 after acquiring an additional 18,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 15.4% in the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 52,003 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,918,000 after purchasing an additional 6,932 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $221.55 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.46, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $221.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.60.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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 return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, 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 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329 in the last quarter. 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.