Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC Purchases 196,300 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,535,027 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 196,300 shares during the period. Apple makes up 6.2% of Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $634,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Allstate Corp increased its stake in Apple by 3,368.2% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $113,062,000 after purchasing an additional 438,471 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in Apple by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $192,700,000 after purchasing an additional 83,997 shares during the period. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,779 shares during the period. Finally, Berkshire Bank increased its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 89,580 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $22,433,000 after buying an additional 2,360 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James lowered their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.86.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of AAPL traded down $2.78 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $195.64. 38,432,354 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 54,632,706. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $202.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $222.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for 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 was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.