Blue Capital Inc. Purchases 1,933 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Blue Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 34.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,507 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,933 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.5% of Blue Capital Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Blue Capital Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $387,749,545,000 after purchasing an additional 26,856,752 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Apple by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $164,218,801,000 after buying an additional 6,555,392 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 358,032,517 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $97,031,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,103 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Apple by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,483,035 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $62,659,118,000 after buying an additional 1,379,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $52,266,468,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s planned price increases could protect margins as memory and storage costs rise, and Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating with a $380 target, citing Apple’s pricing power and supply-chain strength. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports of upcoming AI-focused devices and a second-generation iPhone Air support confidence in Apple’s product pipeline and longer-term growth story. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s planned price hikes may help earnings, but they could also pressure demand if consumers balk at higher handset prices. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple opening Brazil’s App Store to alternative marketplaces reduces regulatory friction there, but it also underscores ongoing global platform scrutiny. Article Title

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $298.01 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.85 and a 52 week high of $317.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $289.73 and a 200 day moving average of $272.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $421,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,226,770. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 97,875 shares of company stock worth $24,998,541. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.