Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Buys 300 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,576 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,151,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $212.33 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $206.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $226.99. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

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.