14,816 Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Acquired by Fire Capital Management LLC

Fire Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 14,816 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $3,710,000. Apple comprises 2.8% of Fire Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. DA Davidson increased their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered 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. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.86.

Apple Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $1.20 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $200.30. The stock had a trading volume of 53,951,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,512,318. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $202.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $221.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.