Disciplined Equity Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 27th, 2023

Disciplined Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,396 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 670 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 0.6% of Disciplined Equity Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Disciplined Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 42.8% during the second quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 299,829 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,993,000 after buying an additional 89,865 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 35.7% during the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 25,608 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,501,000 after buying an additional 6,735 shares during the period. Callan Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.6% during the second quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 85,226 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,652,000 after buying an additional 1,322 shares during the period. Bennett Selby Investments LP boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 151,793 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $20,978,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth $563,000. 57.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $160.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Sunday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $199.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered their target price on shares of Apple to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.24.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 187,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.76, for a total value of $29,991,744.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,816 shares in the company, valued at $78,253,004.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $160.25 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $179.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $145.33.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by ($0.05). Apple had a return on equity of 163.45% and a net margin of 24.56%. The business had revenue of $117.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. Apple’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.62%.

Apple Profile

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.