218,576 Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Acquired by Blue Investment Partners LLC

Blue Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 218,576 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $28,400,000. Apple comprises 35.3% of Blue Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hartline Investment Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1,320.6% during the 4th quarter. Hartline Investment Corp now owns 280,491 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,444,000 after purchasing an additional 260,747 shares in the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 8,217 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,068,000 after buying an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Tilson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $989,000. Wrapmanager Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 23,780 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,090,000 after buying an additional 1,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arjuna Capital boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 137,759 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $17,899,000 after buying an additional 5,024 shares in the last quarter. 57.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $170.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Apple from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Apple from $170.00 to $180.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.74.

Apple Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $171.56 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.17 and a 1-year high of $176.39. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $165.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $151.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The iPhone maker reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $94.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.84 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 165.72% and a net margin of 24.49%. Apple’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 15th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.30%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 4th that allows the company to repurchase $90.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 187,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.76, for a total transaction of $29,991,744.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,253,004.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 187,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.76, for a total transaction of $29,991,744.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,253,004.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 77,817 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.11, for a total value of $12,926,181.87. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $81,363,335.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 439,529 shares of company stock worth $71,703,657. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Company Profile

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.