BNP Paribas Has $124.03 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BNP Paribas boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 494,051 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 20,235 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 5.2% of BNP Paribas' portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. BNP Paribas' holdings in Apple were worth $124,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $71,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $196.45 on Friday. 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's 50 day moving average is $201.76 and its 200-day moving average is $223.02. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Apple declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is 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 given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Scotiabank lowered shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Raymond James cut their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three research 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.86.

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.

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