Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV Invests $312,000 in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV bought a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,247 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $96,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James cut their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 target price (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $198.84. The stock had a trading volume of 14,546,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,449,083. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a PEG 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 50 day moving average price of $200.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $223.60. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

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

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.