Emprise Bank Invests $4.46 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Emprise Bank purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 26,033 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,464,000. Apple makes up about 3.0% of Emprise Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position 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 worth $1,815,594,000 after buying an additional 5,331,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $560,388,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson raised Apple from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.38.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $2.19 on Friday, hitting $207.49. 246,208,289 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 65,148,023. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $220.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $187.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

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.