Eagle Strategies LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Eagle Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.6% of Eagle Strategies LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Eagle Strategies LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Headinvest LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,461,000 after buying an additional 10,425 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $829,240,000 after buying an additional 279,311 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 37,178 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,158,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 673,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $115,284,000 after buying an additional 24,634 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.11.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $181.71 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $172.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $181.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.93%.

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.