Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's 3rd Largest Position

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 469,767 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,365 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.5% of NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $117,639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Members Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,528,000. Tableaux LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,412,000. Keystone Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,115,000. Silver Oak Wealth Advisors Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,578,000. Finally, PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,785,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Apple stock traded down $1.20 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $200.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 53,951,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,512,318. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $202.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $221.12. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 worth $42,694,080 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.