Syverson Strege & Co grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 39.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,155 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 2,305 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.7% of Syverson Strege & Co's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Syverson Strege & Co's holdings in Apple were worth $2,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth 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 period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,099,411 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $24,566,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,156,680 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Activity at Apple
In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm'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 now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 price target (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. Scotiabank lowered Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.02.
View Our Latest Report on Apple
Apple Trading Up 1.6%
Shares of AAPL stock traded up $3.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $203.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 46,477,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,142,188. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $201.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.18.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.
Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.
Apple Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.
About Apple
(
Free Report)
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.
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