Norway Savings Bank reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 1.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The company held 53,876 shares of the iPhone maker after selling 645 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 4.2% of Norway Savings Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its second largest holding. Norway Savings Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,407,000 when it last filed with the SEC.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently changed their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple stock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,228,507,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Apple by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 633,115,246 shares of the iPhone maker worth $112,422,274,000 after purchasing an additional 10,951,705 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1,841.6% in Q4. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 8,755,560 shares of the iPhone maker worth $78,548,000 after purchasing an additional 8,304,604 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Apple in Q4 worth approximately $1,461,735,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Apple by 38.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 29,549,427 shares of the iPhone maker worth $5,247,094,000 after buying an additional 8,154,171 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds hold 57.98% of the company’s shares.
Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Credit Suisse Group set a price target of $169.00 on Apple shares in a Friday, April 29 report. Rosenblatt Securities cut its price target on Apple shares from $184.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a Monday, May 2 report. Bank of America cut its price target on Apple shares from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a Thursday, May 19 report. Deutsche Bank Rese… set a price target of $210.00 on Apple in a Friday, April 8 research report. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group set a price target of $157.00 on Apple in a research report on Friday, June 3. Nine analysts gave the stock a hold rating, twenty-four gave the company a buy rating and one gave the company a strong buy rating. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.55.
Apple shares opened at $141.66 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $148.09 and a 200-day moving average of $162.35. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $129.04 and a 12-month high of $182.94. The stock has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a price to earnings ratio of 23.00, a growth price to earnings ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.88.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last announced its results on Thursday, April 28. The iPhone maker reported EPS of $1.52 for the quarter, beating consensus analyst estimates of $1.43 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 152.88% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company posted revenue of $97.28 billion in the quarter, compared to $93.99 billion expected by analysts. During the same period last year, the company posted EPS of $1.40. Apple’s revenue for the quarter increased 8.6% year on year. Equity research analysts expect Apple Inc. to post earnings per share of 6.11 for the current year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 12. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 9 received a dividend of $0.23. This represents an annualized dividend of $0.92 and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 6. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.94%.
Apple said its board launched a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 28 that allows the company to repurchase $90.00 billion in outstanding stock. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans usually indicate that the management of the company believes that its shares are undervalued.
In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 8,000 Apple shares in a trade that took place on Monday, April 18. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.91, for a total transaction of $1,319,280.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,290 shares of the company, valued at $22,475,583.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Additionally, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 105,901 shares of the company in a trade that took place on Monday, April 4. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.75, for a total value of $18,823,902.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the COO now directly owns 489,662 shares of the company, valued at approximately $87,037,420.50. The disclosure of this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 168,099 shares of the company worth $29,376,711 during the last quarter. Insiders of the company own 0.06% of the shares of the company.
Apple Profile (Get an evaluation)
Apple Inc designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories worldwide. It also sells various related services. Additionally, the company offers iPhone, a range of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a range of versatile tablets; AirPods Max, an over-ear wireless headset; and wearables, home and accessories including AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, HomePod and iPod touch.
See also
Want to see which other hedge funds hold AAPLs? Visit HoldingsChannel.com for the latest 13F filings and insider trading for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating).
Get news and reviews for Apple Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of breaking news and analyst ratings for Apple and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s free daily email newsletter.
