Duality Advisers LP Makes New Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Duality Advisers LP bought a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 19,816 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,815,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,877,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Flagstone Financial Management boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Asset Planning Corporation boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.8 %

AAPL opened at $190.90 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $2.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.69, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $175.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.93. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 371,270 shares of company stock valued at $64,605,696. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.