Athena Investment Management Grows Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 17th, 2023

Athena Investment Management increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,428 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.9% of Athena Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Athena Investment Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,524,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Robinson Value Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. St. James Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 98.3% in the fourth quarter. St. James Investment Advisors LLC now owns 236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 75.4% in the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 249 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC boosted its stake in Apple by 21.7% in the first quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Align Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 57.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Credit Suisse Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $188.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Sunday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $199.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.40.

Apple Stock Down 0.6 %

Apple stock opened at $184.92 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50-day moving average is $172.60 and its 200-day moving average is $155.12. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $186.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The iPhone maker reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $94.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.84 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.49% and a return on equity of 165.72%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.30%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 4th that authorizes the company to buyback $90.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $7,215,515.02. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,569,202.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,622 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $7,215,515.02. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,569,202.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 200 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.92, for a total transaction of $32,984.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 177,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,299,192.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 439,529 shares of company stock worth $71,703,657 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Profile

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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.