Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s Largest Position

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 39,006 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.6% of Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 25,285.2% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,411,260,000 after acquiring an additional 9,590,933 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $208.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $226.57. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.