DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Raises Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,270,449 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 119,342 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.7% of DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.06% of Apple worth $1,795,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. boosted its holdings in Apple by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 13.6% in the third quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 172,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $29,589,000 after buying an additional 20,737 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Apple by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,461,000 after buying an additional 10,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in Apple by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $829,240,000 after acquiring an additional 279,311 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $173.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $172.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.77. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies lowered Apple to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. 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.