Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,908 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,730,000. Apple accounts for 0.4% of Hughes Financial Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.9% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 515,494 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $120,110,000 after purchasing an additional 9,628 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 205,177 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $47,806,000 after purchasing an additional 2,579 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Apple by 7.2% during the third quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 4,294 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. First Long Island Investors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 91.5% during the third quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 163,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $37,995,000 after purchasing an additional 77,914 shares during the period. Finally, Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 28.5% during the third quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 36,291 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,456,000 after purchasing an additional 8,045 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.80.

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In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $195.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $225.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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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.

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