Provident Wealth Management LLC Acquires 391 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Provident Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,273 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 391 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.1% of Provident Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Provident Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 70.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $132,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $173.50 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $199.62. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $172.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $181.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Redburn Atlantic lowered 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. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by 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.