Natural Investments LLC Invests $23.74 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Natural Investments LLC bought a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 94,798 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $23,739,000. Apple comprises about 6.5% of Natural Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL traded down $4.77 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $202.09. The stock had a trading volume of 59,113,086 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,017,873. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.43.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus upgraded Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

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.