Royal Fund Management LLC Has $10.92 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Royal Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 63,659 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 3,473 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.1% of Royal Fund Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 118.0% during the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 657.1% during the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $85,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $196.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday. Loop Capital dropped their price objective 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. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.29.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $214.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.30, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $190.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.14. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $220.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.