Eagle Global Advisors LLC Has $287.33 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Eagle Global Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 193.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,147,377 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 755,939 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 11.8% of Eagle Global Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Eagle Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $287,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Demars Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 24,931.3% during the 4th quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 10,368,233 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,596,413,000 after purchasing an additional 10,326,812 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $198.42 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $202.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $222.66. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

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 firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.