Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,861 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $698,000.
Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Scotia Capital Inc. raised its position in Apple by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 736,525 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $85,352,000 after buying an additional 68,413 shares in the last quarter. Gratus Capital LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Gratus Capital LLC now owns 94,884 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,989,000 after buying an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Apple by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,705 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $661,000 after buying an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Kopp Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 192.9% in the fourth quarter. Kopp Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,535 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $641,000 after buying an additional 3,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Managed Asset Portfolios LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $817,000. 61.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) traded down 0.46% during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $156.78. 12,435,121 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. The stock has a market capitalization of $809.80 billion, a PE ratio of 17.80 and a beta of 1.31. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $102.53 and a 52 week high of $162.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $151.99 and its 200-day moving average is $145.63.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $45.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.94 billion. Apple had a net margin of 20.87% and a return on equity of 35.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post $9.02 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 10th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.64%.
Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $50.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.
A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 22nd. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, June 21st. Nomura reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, July 5th. Barclays PLC set a $123.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $177.00 price objective (up from $161.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $167.38.
In other news, insider Daniel J. Riccio sold 11,949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.86, for a total transaction of $1,707,034.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Luca Maestri sold 4,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.70, for a total transaction of $735,907.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $528,145.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 249,640 shares of company stock worth $38,953,894. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.
About Apple
Apple Inc (Apple) designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. The Company’s products and services include iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and OS X operating systems, iCloud, and a variety of accessory, service and support offerings.
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