Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Cardinal Capital Management’s 5th Largest Position

Cardinal Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 82,216 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,665 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 2.3% of Cardinal Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Cardinal Capital Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,098,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after purchasing an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 192,355 shares of company stock worth $34,771,329. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $221.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $195.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.85. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $221.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Finally, Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

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.