New England Research & Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

New England Research & Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,253 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,551 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.7% of New England Research & Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,636,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its position in Apple by 23,076.4% during the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Apple by 158.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after acquiring an additional 7,067,379 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 target price on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Apple from $187.00 to $186.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.51.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $228.03 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $220.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.75. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 145.35% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.61 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 188,884 shares of company stock valued at $38,092,387 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.