Disciplined Investments LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Disciplined Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,166 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jag Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 237,871 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $59,568,000 after purchasing an additional 9,212 shares during the last quarter. Mason Investment Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Mason Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,048 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,765,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Dravo Bay LLC raised its stake in Apple by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Dravo Bay LLC now owns 8,854 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,217,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 134,461 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,672,000 after buying an additional 1,363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SWS Partners raised its stake in Apple by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. SWS Partners now owns 6,022 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,508,000 after buying an additional 2,197 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. China Renaissance started coverage on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price target on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of AAPL opened at $212.93 on Wednesday. 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 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $207.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $227.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.80, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

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.