Charter Oak Capital Management LLC Purchases 355 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Charter Oak Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 69,035 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.6% of Charter Oak Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $13,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R. W. Roge & Company Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. R. W. Roge & Company Inc. now owns 19,882 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,827,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares during the last quarter. Randolph Co Inc increased its stake in shares of Apple by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Randolph Co Inc now owns 2,411 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 613 shares in the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 19,635 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,780,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 3,082 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $593,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kendall Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 20,318 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,912,000 after acquiring an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $181.71 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $172.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.72. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 14.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Finally, DZ Bank restated a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.11.

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.