Westpac Banking Corp Has $76.71 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Westpac Banking Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 345,317 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 46,217 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 5.6% of Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $76,705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.99.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.5%

AAPL stock opened at $234.35 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $220.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.50. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

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.