Hamilton Capital Partners LLC Acquires New Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hamilton Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 46,857 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $11,734,000. Apple accounts for about 7.3% of Hamilton Capital Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. O Connor Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $896,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,848,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Family Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,235,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,178,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Barclays reduced 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. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $2.48 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $208.78. The company had a trading volume of 45,304,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,954,362. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $206.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.67.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict 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 is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81% 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 worth $42,694,080 in the last ninety days. 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.