Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Increased by AustralianSuper Pty Ltd

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 26.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,031,766 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 1,264,387 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 7.1% of AustralianSuper Pty Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd's holdings in Apple were worth $1,510,475,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Campbell Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Apple by 65.2% in the fourth quarter. Campbell Wealth Management now owns 22,810 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,712,000 after purchasing an additional 9,005 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,095,000. Vicus Capital raised its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 58,021 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $14,530,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its position in shares of Apple by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 415,985 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $104,171,000 after acquiring an additional 31,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CFC Planning Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $6,205,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the company from $202.33 to $167.88 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $2.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $196.79. 51,328,536 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,825,645. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.77 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company's 50 day moving average is $219.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

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.