Clune & Associates LTD. Invests $7.30 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Clune & Associates LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 29,139 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $7,297,000. Apple comprises 2.4% of Clune & Associates LTD.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 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, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company'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. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock traded down $0.54 during trading on Thursday, reaching $202.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 29,288,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,013,061. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company's fifty day moving average is $201.99 and its 200-day moving average is $224.54. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.