Noesis Capital Mangement Corp Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Noesis Capital Mangement Corp lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 19.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,746 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,114 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.8% of Noesis Capital Mangement Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,452,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. O Connor Financial Group LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Family Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,235,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its stake 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 buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their position. 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 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders 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 owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $198.53 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $208.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $227.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.51, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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

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.