TAGStone Capital Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

TAGStone Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 40.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,062 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,445 shares during the period. TAGStone Capital Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Up 0.4%

Apple stock opened at $201.70 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $202.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $224.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

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.