Lowery Thomas LLC Grows Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lowery Thomas LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,882 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 1.3% of Lowery Thomas LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Lowery Thomas LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% in 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 period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 25,285.2% in 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 buying an additional 9,590,933 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective 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. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $208.78 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $205.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $226.57.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted 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. The business 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%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple Company 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.