Advocacy Wealth Management Services LLC Buys New Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 7th, 2023

Advocacy Wealth Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in Apple by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 2,615,701 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $456,728,000 after purchasing an additional 435,891 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 240,628 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Markel Corp increased its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 1,206,990 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $210,752,000 after purchasing an additional 8,450 shares in the last quarter. Camden Capital LLC increased its stake in Apple by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Camden Capital LLC now owns 156,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,305,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Island Capital LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Island Capital LLC now owns 135,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $23,629,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.89% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 69,996 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.25, for a total transaction of $11,566,839.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,790,980.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 69,996 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.25, for a total transaction of $11,566,839.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,790,980.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total transaction of $708,979.92. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,946 shares in the company, valued at $5,881,483.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $191.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $179.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $159.54. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.17 and a 12 month high of $194.48. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The iPhone maker reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.08. Apple had a net margin of 24.49% and a return on equity of 165.72%. The business had revenue of $94.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 4th that permits the company to repurchase $90.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. 51job reiterated a “maintains” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 2nd. Loop Capital lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, May 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.52.

Apple Profile

(Free Report)

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.