Bcwm LLC Makes New $7.74 Million Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bcwm LLC acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 30,917 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $7,742,000. Apple makes up approximately 2.8% of Bcwm LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at about $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.86.

Apple Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of Apple stock traded down $3.89 on Wednesday, reaching $198.78. The company had a trading volume of 60,780,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,606,411. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $200.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $223.77. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.55, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple Company 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.