Napatree Capital LLC Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Napatree Capital LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 14,474 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,787,000. Apple accounts for 2.8% of Napatree Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Apple by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,815,594,000 after purchasing an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $560,388,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $2.41 during trading on Friday, hitting $196.89. 53,103,912 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 48,586,152. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $179.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.38. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Maxim Group began coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.59.

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.