Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 1,592,659 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 39.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,664,096 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 1,592,659 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 5.1% of Teacher Retirement System of Texas' portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Apple were worth $1,418,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 74,682 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $18,702,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,089 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $523,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Sandy Spring Bank grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 479,709 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $120,129,000 after purchasing an additional 8,795 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 9,926,179 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,485,714,000 after buying an additional 38,659 shares during the period. Finally, Next Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Next Capital Management LLC now owns 44,546 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $11,155,000 after buying an additional 976 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were 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 now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $0.94 during trading on Friday, hitting $199.01. 70,744,759 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,305,937. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $203.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $225.20. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced 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. China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price objective on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Scotiabank cut Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.