Red Crane Wealth Management LLC Invests $3.03 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Red Crane Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,081 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,025,000. Apple makes up approximately 2.9% of Red Crane Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at $77,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $96,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Apple from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $198.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $210.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $228.13.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

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.