Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by ARK Investment Management LLC

ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 194.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,394 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 920 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $349,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Daner Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $819,000. LGL Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. LGL Partners LLC now owns 21,518 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,389,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. Sprott Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 27,590 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,909,000 after acquiring an additional 4,750 shares in the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,483 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,879,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the period. Finally, Longbow Finance SA grew its position in Apple by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Longbow Finance SA now owns 328,254 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $82,201,000 after purchasing an additional 15,546 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Wedbush cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Maxim Group raised their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 3.1 %

AAPL opened at $198.89 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $211.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $228.33. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.