White Pine Investment CO Boosts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

White Pine Investment CO lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,630 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 2.8% of White Pine Investment CO’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. White Pine Investment CO’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Apple by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,519,244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,826,709 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in Apple by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 38,579,495 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,605,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 17,519,918 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,020,609,000 after purchasing an additional 287,329 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday. Maxim Group assumed coverage on Apple in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $196.00 price objective (up previously from $189.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.72.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $183.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $199.62. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $172.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.57. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s payout ratio is 14.95%.

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.