Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Crane Advisory LLC

Crane Advisory LLC increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,873 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. Apple comprises 0.6% of Crane Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Crane Advisory LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Apple by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 132.8% during the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,283,000 after buying an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was 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 directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $210.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $192.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $185.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $220.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Erste Group Bank raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.71.

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.