DF Dent & Co. Inc. Has $23.45 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

DF Dent & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 93,626 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 7,245 shares during the quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $23,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. O Connor Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $896,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,235,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA raised its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,178,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 15,940 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,992,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of AAPL traded down $2.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $196.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 51,345,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 54,804,401. The business has a fifty day moving average of $201.76 and a 200 day moving average of $223.10. The company has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Sunday, June 1st. Scotiabank lowered Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.