Sandy Spring Bank Buys 8,795 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sandy Spring Bank grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 479,709 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 8,795 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.9% of Sandy Spring Bank's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Sandy Spring Bank's holdings in Apple were worth $120,129,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Apple stock traded up $0.85 during trading on Monday, hitting $201.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 35,334,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,145,385. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. 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 $3.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $202.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $224.84.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS 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 $0.26 dividend. This is a boost 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.