Opulen Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 3,316 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Opulen Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,316 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $830,000. Apple comprises 0.8% of Opulen Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 25,285.2% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,411,260,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590,933 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, 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 transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank lowered shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Maxim Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $211.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $206.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $226.84. The company has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.