Kure Advisory LLC Invests $1.46 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kure Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 6,581 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,462,000. Apple makes up approximately 1.1% of Kure Advisory LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 5.8% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 18,981 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,902,000 after buying an additional 1,036 shares in the last quarter. Smith Anglin Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Smith Anglin Financial LLC now owns 108,875 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $24,184,000 after acquiring an additional 1,773 shares during the last quarter. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA now owns 29,163 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. Freestate Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Freestate Advisors LLC now owns 4,054 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $900,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kwmg LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the first quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 25,023 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,558,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $170.62 to $188.32 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.95.

Apple Stock Up 0.4%

AAPL traded up $0.92 on Friday, reaching $213.36. 34,955,836 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 53,618,682. The company has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $203.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $219.14. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized 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 generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

About Apple

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.