Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. Raises Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 14,843 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 81 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.4% of Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.60.

Apple Stock Up 1.6%

AAPL stock opened at $233.33 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $213.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.16.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.