Bamco Inc. NY Boosts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bamco Inc. NY raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 301,279 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in Apple were worth $75,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp raised Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.86.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $196.45 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $201.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $222.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.