New Potomac Partners LLC Grows Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

New Potomac Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 39,140 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 4,374 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 4.5% of New Potomac Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. New Potomac Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 116,483.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $74,002,245,000 after purchasing an additional 569,066,184 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $21,746,940,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Apple by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,110,586,000 after purchasing an additional 25,926,552 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Apple by 60.0% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,932,352 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,103,464,000 after purchasing an additional 17,604,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 154.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 23,295,770 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,729,270,000 after purchasing an additional 14,157,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $172.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.80 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays dropped their target price on Apple from $160.00 to $158.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.08.

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.