Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. Boosts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,231 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 2.2% of Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. grew its holdings in Apple by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. now owns 80,210 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $20,086,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 191,540 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $47,965,000 after purchasing an additional 1,036 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 495,363 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $124,049,000 after buying an additional 68,537 shares in the last quarter. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC now owns 61,038 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,285,000 after buying an additional 24,647 shares during the period. Finally, Hobart Private Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC now owns 5,826 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $190.42 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $223.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $231.33. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.08 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.23, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $240.26.

About Apple

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.