Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 178,053 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 8,560 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $34,280,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,519,244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,826,709 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 38,579,495 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,605,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 17,519,918 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,020,609,000 after purchasing an additional 287,329 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $190.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $176.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.17. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The company has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.59, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $196.00 price target (up previously from $189.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Maxim Group initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.44.

View Our Latest Research Report on AAPL

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 271,270 shares of company stock worth $46,511,696 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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