Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,521 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,051 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 20.6% of Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Apple were worth $28,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its stake in Apple by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,845,000 after buying an additional 6,982 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $13,544,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Apple by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $134,554,000 after buying an additional 69,207 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $16,742,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its stake in Apple by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $12,587,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Key Apple News
Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Moffett Nathanson raised their target price on Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. UBS Group set a $296.00 target price on Apple and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Apple from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $310.31.
View Our Latest Analysis on Apple
Apple Trading Down 0.1%
Shares of AAPL opened at $312.06 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $275.43 and a 200 day moving average of $270.06. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $195.07 and a fifty-two week high of $315.00. The firm has a market cap of $4.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The business had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. Apple's revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.
Apple Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.06%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Apple
In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total transaction of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,934,433.50. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Apple Company Profile
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Free Report)
Apple Inc NASDAQ: AAPL is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.
Apple's principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.
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