Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,809,212 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 368,114 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 4.0% of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich's holdings in Apple were worth $1,301,966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. O Connor Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,848,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its position in Apple by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,235,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,178,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on AAPL
Insider Activity at Apple
In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.
Apple Stock Down 1.4%
Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $2.87 during trading on Monday, reaching $208.40. The stock had a trading volume of 27,694,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 58,625,105. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $206.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.08, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Apple Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.
Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.
Apple Profile
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Free Report)
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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