Procyon Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Procyon Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 225,497 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,842 shares during the period. Apple comprises 3.0% of Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $38,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Flagstone Financial Management boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Corporation boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Columbus Macro LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stableford Capital II LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 17,156 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,942,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Maxim Group raised their price objective on Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

Apple stock opened at $221.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $221.55. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $195.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.85.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now 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. Insiders have sold a total of 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.