Flagstone Financial Management Has $1.17 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Flagstone Financial Management lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 56 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 0.5% of Flagstone Financial Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Flagstone Financial Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Gilfoyle & Co LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position 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 buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $132,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 6.0 %

AAPL opened at $183.38 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The company has a fifty day moving average of $172.17 and a 200-day moving average of $181.67. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 153.25% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.93%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.11.

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.