Banque Transatlantique SA Purchases New Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,249,658 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $313,300,000. Apple makes up about 7.4% of Banque Transatlantique SA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position 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 buying an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Demars Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 24,931.3% in the 4th quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 10,368,233 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,596,413,000 after buying an additional 10,326,812 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Loop Capital reduced their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 price target (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Stock Down 1.4%

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $2.78 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $195.64. 38,709,101 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 54,633,249. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $202.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $222.66. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple 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.