Sonoma Private Wealth LLC Acquires 417 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sonoma Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,957 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.4% of Sonoma Private Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Sonoma Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $288,000. Vestcor Inc raised its stake in shares of Apple by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 375,539 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $87,501,000 after purchasing an additional 34,414 shares in the last quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. Simmons Bank raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 132,641 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $30,905,000 after purchasing an additional 2,086 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,972,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Maxim Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $198.53 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $208.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $227.33. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

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.