Truvestments Capital LLC Acquires 1,800 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Truvestments Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 42,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.7% of Truvestments Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Truvestments Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Axim Planning & Wealth increased its position in shares of Apple by 12.5% during the third quarter. Axim Planning & Wealth now owns 1,087 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,867,000. Bell Bank grew its stake in Apple by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bell Bank now owns 73,994 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $17,241,000 after buying an additional 10,065 shares during the last quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 33.6% in the third quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 80,871 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $18,843,000 after buying an additional 20,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the third quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 355,760 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $82,808,000 after acquiring an additional 6,237 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, May 12th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $202.09 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The business has a fifty day moving average of $205.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $226.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.