Vista Investment Partners II LLC Invests $5.11 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vista Investment Partners II LLC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 20,408 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $5,111,000. Apple makes up about 3.0% of Vista Investment Partners II LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $170.62 price target (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $208.78 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $226.57. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding 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 generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. 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 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.