Tobam Buys 2,455 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Tobam boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,649 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,455 shares during the quarter. Tobam’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,976,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McBroom & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. McBroom & Associates LLC now owns 36,369 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,227,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Essex LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 13.1% in the third quarter. Essex LLC now owns 32,403 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,548,000 after acquiring an additional 3,755 shares in the last quarter. ETF Portfolio Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. ETF Portfolio Partners Inc. now owns 10,260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,757,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Shore Point Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 9.8% during the third quarter. Shore Point Advisors LLC now owns 6,375 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,091,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 396,182 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $67,830,000 after purchasing an additional 8,803 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup decreased their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.00.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $183.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.60. The company has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 153.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 14.93%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. 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. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.