Commonwealth Financial Services LLC Acquires 5,862 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Commonwealth Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 38.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 21,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 5,862 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $110,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % 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 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 9.2 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $203.19 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.08 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.25, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a fifty day moving average of $230.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $233.15.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.26.

Apple Company 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.