Howland Capital Management LLC Purchases 2,488 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Howland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 359,991 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,488 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.7% of Howland Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $69,309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Apple by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,519,244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,826,709 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Apple by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 38,579,495 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,605,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,576 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 17,519,918 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,020,609,000 after purchasing an additional 287,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Apple by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 14,616,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,502,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,430 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Maxim Group started coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Redburn Partners lowered Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.05.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $169.02 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $173.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.94. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.80 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.95%.

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.