Ycg LLC Acquires 130 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ycg LLC boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 171,561 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 2.7% of Ycg LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Ycg LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $33,031,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Council Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Financial Council Asset Management Inc now owns 48,571 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,351,000 after acquiring an additional 2,151 shares during the period. Essex LLC grew its stake in Apple by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Essex LLC now owns 36,354 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,999,000 after acquiring an additional 3,951 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd. grew its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 161,220 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $31,070,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the period. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,036 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Apple by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,901 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $944,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly 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 ninety days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Loop Capital cut their target price on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $196.00 target price (up previously from $189.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.11.

Apple Trading Up 1.0 %

Apple stock opened at $184.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.70, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $172.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

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.