Ceera Investments LLC Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ceera Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,886 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.2% of Ceera Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in 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 bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of AAPL opened at $211.26 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. 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. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $206.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $226.67.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were 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 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized 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 repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.