Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust Invests $21.18 Million in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter, buying 77,905 shares valued at about $21.18 million. Apple now makes up roughly 5.7% of the fund’s portfolio and is its fifth-largest holding.
• Apple posted a strong latest quarter, with EPS of $2.01 beating estimates and revenue of $111.18 billion topping forecasts. Revenue rose 16.6% year over year, and analysts now expect full-year EPS of 8.74.
• Despite the upbeat earnings and a dividend increase to $0.27 per share, Apple shares were trading down 3.6%, and several analysts have recently lifted price targets, with an average target of $314.59.

Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 77,905 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $21,179,000. Apple accounts for about 5.7% of Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter worth $17,472,482,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 20,464.8% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,553,753,000 after buying an additional 26,937,401 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $387,749,545,000 after buying an additional 26,856,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $290.55 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $195.07 and a 1 year high of $317.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $283.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The company had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple's payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Apple from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 price objective on Apple in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $325.00 price objective on Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Maxim Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $350.00 price objective (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $375.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $314.59.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Investors were disappointed that Siri’s AI overhaul still appears behind rivals, with launch timing stretching into later this year and some features limited to the U.S. at first. Apple shares slide after big Siri AI reveal
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts warned that Apple is relying on Google Gemini/Nvidia infrastructure for parts of its advanced AI stack, raising questions about how much of the AI value capture Apple keeps in-house. Apple failed to make its AI tool to comply to EU regulations, EU Commission says
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley said the new Siri features may be held back by older iPhones, limiting the near-term upgrade cycle and the addressable installed base. Apple's AI Siri will be held back by aging devices, Morgan Stanley says

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total value of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at $34,934,433.50. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

About Apple

Apple Inc NASDAQ: AAPL is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple's principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.

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