Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Empower Advisory Group LLC

Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,960,205 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,348 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.7% of Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $490,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 21.1% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $787,631,000 after purchasing an additional 588,427 shares in the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,156 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,395,000 after buying an additional 2,065 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Network Inc. increased its position in Apple by 3.2% during the third quarter. Financial Management Network Inc. now owns 64,470 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,622,000 after buying an additional 1,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.0% in the third quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 35,382 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $204.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $217.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $166.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $202.33 to $167.88 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $263.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup cut their price target on Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.17.

Apple 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.