Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Raised by GAM Holding AG

GAM Holding AG increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 185,647 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 25,677 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.5% of GAM Holding AG's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. GAM Holding AG's holdings in Apple were worth $46,490,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth about $77,000. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Finally, Collier Financial purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $140,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America reduced their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Moffett Nathanson restated a "sell" rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.17.

Apple Trading Up 2.4 %

Apple stock opened at $204.57 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.47, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $166.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm's 50-day moving average is $217.14 and its 200-day moving average is $229.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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