Buckingham Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 28th, 2023

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 154,463 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,121 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 4.1% of Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $25,471,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $221,753,959,000 after acquiring an additional 8,734,393 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $74,002,245,000 after purchasing an additional 569,066,184 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 282,749,817 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,671,884,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991,299 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 226,281,368 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $29,400,739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,827 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Apple by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,110,586,000 after purchasing an additional 25,926,552 shares during the last quarter. 57.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $188.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $175.71 and a 200 day moving average of $157.30. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.17 and a 12 month high of $188.39. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.93, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The iPhone maker reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.08. Apple had a return on equity of 165.72% and a net margin of 24.49%. The business had revenue of $94.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 4th that allows the company to repurchase $90.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.92, for a total transaction of $32,984.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 177,657 shares in the company, valued at $29,299,192.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.92, for a total value of $32,984.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 177,657 shares in the company, valued at $29,299,192.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,092 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $708,979.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,946 shares in the company, valued at $5,881,483.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,799 shares of company stock worth $41,711,912 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, June 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Apple from $174.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Apple from $145.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.72.

Apple Profile

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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.