Aspiriant LLC Has $61.87 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Aspiriant LLC trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 321,326 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 251 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.8% of Aspiriant LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $61,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,877,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Flagstone Financial Management raised its position in Apple by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. High Pines Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Asset Planning Corporation raised its position in Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, DZ Bank restated a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.11.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $181.71 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $199.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $172.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $181.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.93%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes 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 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.