Colonial River Investments LLC Acquires 9,047 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Colonial River Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 20.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,948 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 9,047 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 6.5% of Colonial River Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Colonial River Investments LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $13,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Partners Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $6,444,000. Black Diamond Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 34,318 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $8,594,000 after buying an additional 4,362 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its holdings in Apple by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 2,695,399 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $674,983,000 after acquiring an additional 71,600 shares during the period. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Apple by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 151,551 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $37,951,000 after acquiring an additional 9,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Family Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,943,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Maxim Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Argus raised shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 target price (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $233.25.

Apple Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $7.97 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $205.35. The company had a trading volume of 100,891,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,620,753. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company's fifty day moving average is $212.15 and its 200 day moving average is $228.63. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change 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 0.51%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Company 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.