Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 251,750 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,526,380 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 251,750 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.9% of Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Apple were worth $1,634,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup restated a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.02.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $2.47 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $201.45. The stock had a trading volume of 72,665,260 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,221,299. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $201.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $224.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Company Profile

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.