Rice Partnership LLC Buys 3,318 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Rice Partnership LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 199,881 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,318 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 10.0% of Rice Partnership LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Rice Partnership LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $38,483,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,877,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,173,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,638,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.9% in the third quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC now owns 6,716 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Planning Corporation lifted its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL traded down $0.59 during trading on Friday, reaching $169.30. The stock had a trading volume of 44,717,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,363,952. The business has a 50-day moving average of $173.04 and a 200-day moving average of $181.79. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $199.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Apple’s payout ratio is 14.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. DZ Bank reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Bank of America upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. DA Davidson began coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.