Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda

SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3,178.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,000 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 9,695 shares during the quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda's holdings in Apple were worth $2,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. O Connor Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,848,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,235,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,178,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Down 2.3%

Apple stock traded down $4.77 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $202.09. The company had a trading volume of 59,113,086 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,017,873. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $205.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.43.

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

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is 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 paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Company Profile

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.