Harvey Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Harvey Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 125,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 879 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 8.0% of Harvey Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Harvey Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after acquiring an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $560,388,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $487,435,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in Apple by 6.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was 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 $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. DZ Bank restated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.11.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $184.57 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The company has a market cap of $2.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $172.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.79. 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 posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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 issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Apple Company 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.