Barings LLC Acquires 5,786 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Barings LLC raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 49.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,452 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 5,786 shares during the quarter. Barings LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $4,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $82,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup restated a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 price objective (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given 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 has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of AAPL traded down $2.48 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $208.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 45,304,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,954,362. 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 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company's fifty day moving average price is $206.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $226.67. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.