Sather Financial Group Inc Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sather Financial Group Inc lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,467 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 174 shares during the quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $560,388,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $487,435,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Apple by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,519,244,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in Apple by 1.0% during the third 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday. Barclays boosted their price target on Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.00.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $183.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $172.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.60. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $199.62. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.52, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 153.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.93%.

About Apple

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.