DMKC Advisory Services LLC Makes New Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

DMKC Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 8,898 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,228,000. Apple makes up 2.0% of DMKC Advisory Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $198.89 on Tuesday. 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 50-day moving average of $211.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $228.33. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.57, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.