Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by B&D White Capital Company LLC

B&D White Capital Company LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 80.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,588 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 13,595 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.3% of B&D White Capital Company LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. B&D White Capital Company LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $7,660,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ AAPL 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 firm's 50 day moving average is $212.15 and its 200 day moving average is $228.63. 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 fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 target price (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank lowered Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $233.25.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Apple

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.