Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Davis R M Inc.’s 2nd Largest Position

Davis R M Inc. raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,123,548 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 4,389 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 5.5% of Davis R M Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $281,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $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, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $208.78 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $205.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $226.57. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.