Boston Common Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 254,836 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 6,130 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.7% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $56,607,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,999,145,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307,413 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.
View Our Latest Report on AAPL
Insider Activity at Apple
In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Apple Trading Up 0.6%
Shares of AAPL stock traded up $1.26 on Wednesday, hitting $201.56. The stock had a trading volume of 39,442,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,445,313. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 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's 50 day moving average price is $202.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $220.85.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's quarterly 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 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.
Apple Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.
Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.
Apple Profile
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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.
Further Reading
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