Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. Buys 3,650 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,840 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,650 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 6.2% of Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $13,990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 1.9%

Apple stock traded down $3.89 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $198.78. The company had a trading volume of 60,780,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,606,411. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $200.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.77. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. In the last three months, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Barclays cut their price objective on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Company 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.