Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 49,168,843 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 6.1% of Vanguard Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.29% of Apple worth $349,532,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.1%

AAPL traded down $2.19 on Thursday, hitting $200.63. 55,023,682 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,120,355. 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 $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.85, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock's fifty day moving average is $201.99 and its 200-day moving average is $224.54.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's management 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 given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Maxim Group boosted their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James decreased their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

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.