New Perspectives Inc Buys New Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

New Perspectives Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 12,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,143,000. Apple accounts for approximately 1.2% of New Perspectives Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after buying an additional 2,096,360 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 25th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $208.00 to $225.00 in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Redburn Partners cut Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.05.

Apple Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $169.30. The company had a trading volume of 44,717,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,363,952. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $199.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market cap of $2.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.95%.

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.