Generation Capital Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Generation Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 23,905 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $5,986,000. Apple makes up approximately 5.1% of Generation Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $71,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81% 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 worth $42,694,080 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on AAPL shares. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Tigress Financial raised 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. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $196.45 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $201.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.10. The company has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 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.

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