8,706 Shares in Apple Inc. $AAPL Bought by Stone Wealth Partners

Stone Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 8,706 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,367,000. Apple accounts for 2.1% of Stone Wealth Partners’ portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lynch Investment Planning LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $2,176,000. Floyd Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 643.3% in the fourth quarter. Floyd Financial Group LLC now owns 8,548 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,262,000 after buying an additional 7,398 shares in the last quarter. Clear Retirement Advice LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $870,000. Drake & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 19,600 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,328,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GuidedMoney LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $723,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $276.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.59.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $298.01 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $289.73 and a 200-day moving average of $272.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.85 and a 12-month high of $317.40. The firm has a market cap of $4.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.04, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The business had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s planned price increases could protect margins as memory and storage costs rise, and Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating with a $380 target, citing Apple’s pricing power and supply-chain strength. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports of upcoming AI-focused devices and a second-generation iPhone Air support confidence in Apple’s product pipeline and longer-term growth story. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s planned price hikes may help earnings, but they could also pressure demand if consumers balk at higher handset prices. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple opening Brazil’s App Store to alternative marketplaces reduces regulatory friction there, but it also underscores ongoing global platform scrutiny. Article Title

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,675,650. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 97,875 shares of company stock valued at $24,998,541. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.