Napatree Capital LLC Has $5.13 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Napatree Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,494 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 1,505 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 3.0% of Napatree Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Napatree Capital LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $5,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 97,554 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $24,429,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 44,558 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $11,158,000 after purchasing an additional 8,827 shares during the last quarter. Hill Island Financial LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Hill Island Financial LLC now owns 12,609 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,157,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 33,820 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,469,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richwood Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,000 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,005,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank lowered Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America lowered their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. KeyCorp raised Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $0.61 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $202.21. The stock had a trading volume of 8,967,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,938,325. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.15, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $201.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $224.54.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.