Kilter Group LLC Makes New $1.64 Million Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kilter Group LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,565 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,644,000. Apple accounts for about 1.1% of Kilter Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Tigress Financial upped their target price 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. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $4.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $201.00. 95,792,149 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,610,148. The business has a 50 day moving average of $202.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $221.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 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.