Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Buys 42,383 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,815,403 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 42,383 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 7.2% of Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $625,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Apple by 23,555.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.95.

Apple Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of AAPL traded up $1.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $211.14. The stock had a trading volume of 48,663,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,497,541. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $218.08. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 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. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

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.