Warburton Capital Management LLC Buys New Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Warburton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,167 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,000. Apple makes up about 1.0% of Warburton Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Down 2.3%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $202.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.08, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $205.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $226.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.