Edgestream Partners L.P. Acquires 44,134 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 54.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 124,791 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 44,134 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 1.3% of Edgestream Partners L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Apple were worth $31,250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value 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 approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays cut their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $211.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.53, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $206.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $226.68.

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

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

About Apple

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.