Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. Purchases Shares of 62,620 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 62,620 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $15,681,000. Apple accounts for about 1.6% of Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at $77,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $96,000. Finally, Collier Financial purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $140,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 have sold 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 company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Argus upgraded Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James lowered their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Maxim Group upped their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Four research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Down 1.2%

AAPL traded down $2.48 during trading on Monday, hitting $208.78. 45,304,005 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 55,954,362. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $206.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $226.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost 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 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.