Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP Buys New Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP bought a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 280,600 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $70,767,000. Apple accounts for 5.9% of Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 1.9% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 123,487 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $28,773,000 after purchasing an additional 2,333 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,934,005 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,149,623,000 after buying an additional 85,685 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 4,822,803 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,123,713,000 after buying an additional 51,495 shares in the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth $1,365,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in Apple by 18.2% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 9,583,232 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,232,893,000 after acquiring an additional 1,475,580 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. 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 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $1.22 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $202.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 54,532,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,050,913. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $200.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy 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.

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 dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Scotiabank cut Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.