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

Hoey Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 22.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,108 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,186 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.0% of Hoey Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Hoey Investments Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $82,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $96,000. Finally, Collier Financial purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $140,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% 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 worth $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $203.92 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $201.17 and a 200 day moving average of $224.12. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.02.

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.