Arrow Capital Pty Ltd Acquires New Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Arrow Capital Pty Ltd bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 15,000 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $3,756,000. Apple makes up approximately 3.4% of Arrow Capital Pty Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,337,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the period. Allstate Corp grew its position in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $113,062,000 after buying an additional 438,471 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its position in shares of Apple by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $192,700,000 after buying an additional 83,997 shares during the period. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,308,000 after buying an additional 1,779 shares during the period. Finally, Berkshire Bank grew its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 89,580 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $22,433,000 after buying an additional 2,360 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Three 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Trading Down 1.4%

AAPL stock traded down $2.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $196.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 51,345,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 54,742,937. The company has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The business's 50 day moving average price is $201.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $223.02. 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 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

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. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business'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 in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

About Apple

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.