Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 353,053 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 11,134 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.7% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $78,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,260,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Family Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,235,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,178,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 15,940 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,992,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Investments LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 7,166 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,794,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 18th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.94.

Apple Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $213.88. The company had a trading volume of 38,805,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 49,464,392. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $204.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.58. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. 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 authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple 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 sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.