Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is BluePointe Capital Management LLC's 10th Largest Position

BluePointe Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 30.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,919 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 4,186 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.6% of BluePointe Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. BluePointe Capital Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $4,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% 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 worth $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock traded up $1.57 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $203.27. 46,332,353 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,131,611. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $202.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $224.69. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.27, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's board 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 given a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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.