Members Advisory Group LLC Purchases New Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Members Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,285 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000. Apple makes up 0.1% of Members Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Flagstone Financial Management grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Corporation lifted its position in Apple by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Columbus Macro LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,120,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stableford Capital II LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 17,156 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,942,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $196.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Maxim Group upped their price target on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.43.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple 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 $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $230.54 on Friday. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.48. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $233.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.85, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The company 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%. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.