Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,761 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $339,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC grew its position in Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in Apple by 70.2% during the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. raised its position in Apple by 27.7% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $132,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $196.00 target price (up previously from $189.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.72.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $183.38 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $172.15 and its 200 day moving average is $181.57. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.56, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.