State of Michigan Retirement System Has $1.13 Billion Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,512,899 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 25,274 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 5.9% of State of Michigan Retirement System's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. State of Michigan Retirement System's holdings in Apple were worth $1,130,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Oppenheimer cut Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 price target (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays decreased their price target on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank cut Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Maxim Group raised their price target on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

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 value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed 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 shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Apple stock traded down $0.60 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $212.33. The company had a trading volume of 49,235,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,017,431. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $207.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.09. 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 $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

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

Apple 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.