Ballentine Partners LLC Purchases 7,275 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 311,144 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,275 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.2% of Ballentine Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $59,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in shares of Apple by 70.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $132,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $169.89 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.80 and a 52-week high of $199.62. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $173.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Maxim Group assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 25th. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.05.

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.