Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Summit Global Investments’ 5th Largest Position

Summit Global Investments reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 148,864 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,518 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.9% of Summit Global Investments’ holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Apple were worth $24,548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 116,483.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,002,245,000 after buying an additional 569,066,184 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $21,746,940,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Apple by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,110,586,000 after acquiring an additional 25,926,552 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $221,753,959,000 after acquiring an additional 8,734,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,075,599,000. 58.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $187.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.87. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $198.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $81.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.79 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.92% and a net margin of 24.68%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 4th that permits the company to buyback $90.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total transaction of $2,753,216.64. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,363,619.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $193.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Monday, June 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Apple from $180.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Apple from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Apple from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.86.

About Apple

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.