Dillon & Associates Inc. lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 275,202 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 5,169 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 9.5% of Dillon & Associates Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Dillon & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $68,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Clune & Associates LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,297,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $179,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $12,470,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Finally, Haverford Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Haverford Financial Services Inc. now owns 102,597 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $25,692,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.
Apple Stock Performance
AAPL stock traded down $0.54 during trading on Thursday, hitting $202.28. 29,288,934 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,013,061. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $201.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.54. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Apple Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.
Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 price objective (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Sunday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Apple
Insider Transactions at Apple
In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents 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 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
About Apple
(
Free Report)
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.
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