Swiss National Bank Has $10.76 Billion Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Swiss National Bank decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,951,268 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 287,900 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 7.2% of Swiss National Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.29% of Apple worth $10,755,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Down 0.4%

AAPL stock opened at $201.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50 day moving average is $205.39 and its 200 day moving average is $226.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.