Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Holdings Raised by Covea Finance

Covea Finance lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 22.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 655,199 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 119,757 shares during the period. Apple makes up 6.6% of Covea Finance's holdings, making the stock its largest position. Covea Finance's holdings in Apple were worth $145,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Carret Asset Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.7% during the first quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 334,481 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $74,298,000 after buying an additional 2,217 shares during the period. Davies Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in Apple by 0.6% during the first quarter. Davies Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 33,431 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $7,426,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 3.0% during the first quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 152,498 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $33,874,000 after buying an additional 4,453 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its position in Apple by 67.9% during the first quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 4,585 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,018,000 after buying an additional 1,854 shares during the period. Finally, Shelton Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.4% in the first quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,063 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. China Renaissance began coverage on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $237.25.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $4.62 on Friday, hitting $202.95. 46,370,982 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,587,043. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $205.22 and a 200-day moving average of $213.98.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

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.