Pinney & Scofield Inc. Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 21,556 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $5,398,000. Apple accounts for about 4.2% of Pinney & Scofield Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.86.

Apple Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $196.58 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $222.30.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS 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 167.24%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.