TAGStone Capital Inc. Buys 1,445 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

TAGStone Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 40.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,062 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 1,445 shares during the quarter. TAGStone Capital Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $1,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Up 1.5%

AAPL stock traded up $3.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $203.73. 10,860,620 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 55,945,518. The firm's 50 day moving average is $201.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $224.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. 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 (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Four investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.02.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.