OFI Invest Asset Management Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 996,097 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $240,895,000. Apple accounts for about 5.7% of OFI Invest Asset Management's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $211.26 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. 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 has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $206.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $226.67.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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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