Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Counterweight Ventures LLC’s Largest Position

Counterweight Ventures LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,662 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 126 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 5.4% of Counterweight Ventures LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Counterweight Ventures LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its position in Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth about $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James raised their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $170.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $190.42 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.23, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.08 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $223.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.33.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

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.