Herbst Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,894 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,422 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 3.4% of Herbst Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Herbst Group LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $4,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apple by 3.7% during 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 period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased 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 acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling at Apple
In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.
Apple Stock Up 0.4%
Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.92 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $213.36. The stock had a trading volume of 34,955,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,618,682. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $203.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.86. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced 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 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.
Apple Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.49%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Barclays set a $173.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.95.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on AAPL
Apple Company Profile
(
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.
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