Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 4,447,592 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,116,983,000. Apple accounts for 6.6% of Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Connor Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,235,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,178,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 15,940 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,992,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $199.20 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $201.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $223.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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 dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.86.

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.