Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 14,190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $3,553,000. Apple makes up approximately 2.0% of Prudent Man Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Barclays decreased their price target on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, China Renaissance assumed coverage on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.86.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $3.89 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $198.78. 60,780,621 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 55,606,411. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.55, 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $200.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $223.77. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.