Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,853,850 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 459,563 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 4.3% of Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $965,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Down 1.2%

Apple stock opened at $208.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $205.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $226.57.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple 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.