Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Purchases 15,099 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 88.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,099 shares during the period. Apple comprises 3.0% of Koss Olinger Consulting LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,584,512,000 after acquiring an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after acquiring an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $232.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $233.08. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $200.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.98.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Melius Research upped their price target on shares of Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.43.

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.