OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Lowers Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 469,553 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 29,873 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 3.3% of OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd's holdings in Apple were worth $117,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $4,972,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 6.3% during the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 28,626 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $6,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,779 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Bank lifted its stake in Apple by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 89,580 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $22,433,000 after purchasing an additional 2,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in Apple by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 558,254 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $139,798,000 after purchasing an additional 28,404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. 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 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $199.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 70,744,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,305,347. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. 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's 50-day simple moving average is $203.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $225.02.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $1.53 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank cut Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. China Renaissance began coverage on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

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.