White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL – Get a rating) by 2.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund held 33,521 shares of the iPhone maker after acquiring an additional 689 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 1.5% of White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,853,000 at the end of the last quarter.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 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 acquiring 10,951,705 additional shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings of Apple shares by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 264,351,901 shares of the iPhone maker worth $46,812,958,000 after purchasing an additional 4,456,954 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,228,507,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 79,583,859 shares of the iPhone maker worth $14,131,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273,148 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,982,104 shares of the iPhone maker worth $11,361,302,000 after buying 3,096,696 additional shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors hold 57.98% of the company’s shares.
A number of research companies have weighed in on AAPL recently. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a target price of $200.00 on Apple shares in a Friday, July 1 report. Barclays cut its price target on Apple from $167.00 to $166.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Loop Capital lowered its target price on Apple from $210.00 to $180.00 and placed a “buy” rating on the stock in a Wednesday, May 25 research note. Goldman Sachs Group cut its price target on Apple from $157.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a Wednesday, July 6 research report. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a price target of $170.00 on Apple in a Monday, May 2 research report. Nine equity research analysts gave the stock a hold rating, twenty-four gave the stock a buy rating and one gave the stock a strong buy rating. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “moderate buy” and a consensus target price of $183.49.
NASDAQAAPL opened at $148.47 on Friday. The company has a debt ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock’s fifty-day moving average is $142.68 and its two-hundred-day moving average is $159.17. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.10, a price-to-earnings growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.19. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.04 and a fifty-two week high of $182.94.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL – Get a rating) last reported quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 28. The iPhone maker reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.52 for the quarter, beating consensus analyst estimates of $1.43 by $0.09. The company posted revenue of $97.28 billion in the quarter, versus analyst estimates of $93.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 152.88%. Apple’s quarterly revenue grew 8.6% year over year. In the same quarter a year earlier, the company posted earnings per share of $1.40. As a group, sell-side analysts expect Apple Inc. to post EPS of 6.09 for the current year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 12. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 9 received a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents an annualized dividend of $0.92 and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 6. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 14.94%.
Apple announced that its board authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 28 that allows the company to repurchase $90.00 billion in stock. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors thinks its stock is undervalued.
In other news, please Katherine L. Adams sold 25,000 shares of the company in a trade on Wednesday, May 4. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.72, for a total value of $4,043,000.00. As a result of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 452,334 shares of the company, valued at approximately $73,151,454.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, accessible via the SEC website. Additionally, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 8,000 shares of the company in a trade dated Monday, April 18. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.91, for a total value of $1,319,280.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,290 shares of the company, valued at $22,475,583.90. Disclosure of this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s shares.
Apple Profile (Get a rating)
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.
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