Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is WR Wealth Planners LLC’s 8th Largest Position

WR Wealth Planners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,133 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,787 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.7% of WR Wealth Planners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. WR Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. O Connor Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $896,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,848,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Family Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,235,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its position in Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,178,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup restated a “cautious” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $170.62 price target (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

AAPL stock opened at $198.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $208.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.38. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple 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.