GLP Holdings LLLP acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 367,556 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $99,924,000. Apple comprises about 95.2% of GLP Holdings LLLP's portfolio, making the stock its largest position.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $311,157,662,000 after acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $123,358,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224,229 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $72,506,336,000 after buying an additional 4,942,638 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Maxim Group raised Apple from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $300.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Apple from $320.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $301.83.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Apple
Apple Stock Performance
Shares of AAPL stock opened at $271.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $260.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $265.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.25 and a 52 week high of $288.62.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.92 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The business had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $109.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Apple Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 13.15%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total value of $7,661,010.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $34,934,433.50. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 96,485 shares of company stock worth $24,594,845 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.
Key Headlines Impacting Apple
Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:
About Apple
(
Free Report)
Apple Inc NASDAQ: AAPL is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.
Apple's principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.
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