Vista Investment Partners LLC Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vista Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,615 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 1,624 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.3% of Vista Investment Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Vista Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $10,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AA Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 8.6% in the first quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 21,767 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,835,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717 shares during the period. Inscription Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at $31,309,000. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 11.9% during the first quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 30,002 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,664,000 after acquiring an additional 3,195 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.2% during the first quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 12,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,712,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares during the period. Finally, Fogel Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.3% during the first quarter. Fogel Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,062 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,456,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.94.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $213.88. The stock had a trading volume of 38,805,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 49,464,392. The business's fifty day moving average is $204.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.58. 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 company has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.31, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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 analysts' consensus estimates 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%. Apple's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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.