74,436 Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Bought by Ring Mountain Capital LLC

Ring Mountain Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 74,436 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $18,640,000. Apple comprises approximately 12.5% of Ring Mountain Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was 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 owns 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.3%

AAPL stock traded down $0.60 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $212.33. 49,235,970 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,032,102. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $207.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $227.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.70, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 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 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 the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James dropped their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $235.80.

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.