Intact Investment Management Inc. Purchases 69,280 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 160.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,580 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 69,280 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.0% of Intact Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Intact Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $28,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $288,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,972,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its position in Apple by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 28,626 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,723,104 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $876,483,000 after buying an additional 103,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,308,000 after buying an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of AAPL opened at $195.27 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $205.04 and a 200 day moving average of $225.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Maxim Group upped their target price on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AAPL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.