Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd Buys 287,708 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,361,779 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 287,708 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 7.3% of Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd's holdings in Apple were worth $1,342,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $288,000. Silicon Valley Capital Partners grew its stake in shares of Apple by 12.8% during the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $59,122,000 after purchasing an additional 28,799 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc lifted its holdings in Apple by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 375,539 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $87,501,000 after buying an additional 34,414 shares in the last quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,518,000 after buying an additional 3,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simmons Bank increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 132,641 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $30,905,000 after buying an additional 2,086 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Apple from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush cut Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $196.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.15, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $209.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.91.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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