Bank of Hawaii Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Bank of Hawaii boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 166,346 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 8,580 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.2% of Bank of Hawaii’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Bank of Hawaii’s holdings in Apple were worth $45,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $387,749,545,000 after buying an additional 26,856,752 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $164,218,801,000 after acquiring an additional 6,555,392 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 358,032,517 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $97,031,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,103 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Apple by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,483,035 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $62,659,118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,379,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $298.01 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.85 and a 12-month high of $317.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $289.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $272.91.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The company had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, June 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.59.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s planned price increases could protect margins as memory and storage costs rise, and Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating with a $380 target, citing Apple’s pricing power and supply-chain strength. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports of upcoming AI-focused devices and a second-generation iPhone Air support confidence in Apple’s product pipeline and longer-term growth story. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s planned price hikes may help earnings, but they could also pressure demand if consumers balk at higher handset prices. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple opening Brazil’s App Store to alternative marketplaces reduces regulatory friction there, but it also underscores ongoing global platform scrutiny. Article Title

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,226,770. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,875 shares of company stock valued at $24,998,541. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.