BayBridge Capital Group LLC Increases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BayBridge Capital Group LLC raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,213 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 0.9% of BayBridge Capital Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. BayBridge Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clientfirst Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,574,000. Tenon Financial LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 290.3% during the 4th quarter. Tenon Financial LLC now owns 12,997 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,169,000 after acquiring an additional 9,667 shares in the last quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 49,855 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,485,000 after purchasing an additional 9,964 shares during the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 82,471 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $20,652,000 after purchasing an additional 4,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 410,573 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $102,816,000 after purchasing an additional 2,989 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $240.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $198.85 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $224.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.08 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Apple 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.