Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. (2024)

Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,733 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,078 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 0.1% of Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,221,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018,010 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Apple by 6.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,519,244,000 after buying an additional 2,826,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Apple by 4.6% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 38,579,495 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,605,195,000 after buying an additional 1,696,576 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $196.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.47.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $207.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $181.13 and a 200-day moving average of $183.51. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $207.16. 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 has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.22, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple 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 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 through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.