Mcdonald Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL – Free report) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to its latest 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund held 89,648 shares of the iPhone maker after acquiring 1,514 additional shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 4.8% of Mcdonald Partners LLC’s portfolio, making it its largest holding. Mcdonald Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,783,000 when it last filed with the SEC.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker valued at $221,753,959,000 after acquiring 8,734,393 additional shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 116,483.5% in Q4. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker valued at $74,002,245,000 after acquiring an additional 569,066,184 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 282,749,817 shares of the iPhone maker valued at $36,671,884,000 after acquiring an additional 2,991,299 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 226,281,368 shares of the iPhone maker valued at $29,400,739,000 after acquiring 1,417,827 additional shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Apple by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker valued at $27,110,586,000 after buying an additional 25,926,552 shares last quarter. 57.89% of the shares are held by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Changes to analyst ratings
A number of research companies have commented on the AAPL. Tigress Financial raised its price target on Apple shares from $210.00 to $225.00 in a Friday, June 23 research note. Piper Sandler cut her price target on Apple shares from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a Friday, May 5 research note. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price target on Apple shares from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a Wednesday, April 19 research note. Robert W. Baird raised his price target on Apple shares from $170.00 to $180.00 in a Tuesday, May 2 research note. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised its price target on Apple shares from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a Friday, May 5 research note. . Two investment analysts have assigned a sell rating to the stock, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a “moderate buy” consensus rating and an average target price of $181.08.
Insider activity
In other news, Insider chris kondo sold 4,092 shares in a trade that took place on Monday, May 8. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $708,979.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,946 shares of the company, valued at $5,881,483.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, accessible via this hyperlink. 0.06% of the shares are held by insiders of the company.
Apple shares up 0.4%
Shares of Apple broth opened at $190.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.35, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt ratio of 1.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $181.45 and a two-hundred-day moving average price of $161.51. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.17 and a 12-month high of $194.48.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL – Get a free report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4. The iPhone maker reported earnings per share of $1.52 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.08. Apple had a return on equity of 165.72% and a net margin of 24.49%. The company posted revenue of $94.84 billion in the quarter, versus $92.84 billion expected by analysts. In the same period a year earlier, the company had earned earnings per share of $1.52. Apple’s revenue for the quarter decreased 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Stock analysts expect Apple Inc. to post 6 earnings per share for the current year.
Apple increases its dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 15 received a dividend of $0.24. This represents an annualized dividend of $0.96 and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 12. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.30%.
Apple said its board on Thursday (May 4) approved a stock repurchase program that allows the company to repurchase $90.00 billion in stock. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Share repurchase programs usually indicate that the company’s board of directors believe its shares are undervalued.
Apple Profile
Apple Inc designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a range of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a range of versatile tablets; and wearables, home and accessories including AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats and HomePod products.
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