1,968 Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Bought by Columbia River Financial Group LLC

Columbia River Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $492,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 13th. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $196.58 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $202.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $222.30.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program 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 programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.