1,944 Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Purchased by Curat Global LLC

Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,944 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $432,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $213.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $203.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.14. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were 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 of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.95.

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.