20,679 Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Acquired by Willner & Heller LLC

Willner & Heller LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 20,679 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $3,981,000. Apple accounts for approximately 4.4% of Willner & Heller LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after purchasing an additional 5,331,439 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $560,388,000. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth $487,435,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $216.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. DA Davidson upgraded Apple from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $207.47.

Apple Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $4.18 during trading on Monday, hitting $216.67. 93,611,626 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 63,279,680. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $220.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $184.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple's payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 54,732 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.