Financial Life Advisors Buys 164 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Financial Life Advisors raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,267 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the quarter. Financial Life Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $217,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 132.8% in the fourth quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after acquiring an additional 18,615 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $227.57 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $233.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $202.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly 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 own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average 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.