Sapient Capital LLC Invests $200.14 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,039,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $200,137,000. Apple accounts for 6.2% of Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 69.0% during the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 70.2% during the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $132,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $182.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. 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 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $172.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.78.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.11.

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.