Birch Capital Management LLC Acquires 462 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Birch Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 72,025 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 6.4% of Birch Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Birch Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 132.8% during the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,283,000 after acquiring an additional 18,615 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Melius Research increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.29.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

AAPL opened at $214.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average is $190.27 and its 200 day moving average is $185.14. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $220.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. Company 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.