Scratch Capital LLC Acquires 104 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Scratch Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 988 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 0.2% of Scratch Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Scratch Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, June 13th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.11.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $211.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $204.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $215.85.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% 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 previous year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

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 paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.