Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by Tiff Advisory Services LLC

Tiff Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 118.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 155,729 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 84,574 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 12.7% of Tiff Advisory Services LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Tiff Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $38,998,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in Apple in the third quarter worth about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Apple in the third quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 price target (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $235.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $2.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $212.93. The stock had a trading volume of 51,637,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,044,375. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50 day moving average is $207.59 and its 200-day moving average is $227.19.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.