ING Groep NV reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,120,105 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 140,194 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 8.3% of ING Groep NV's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. ING Groep NV's holdings in Apple were worth $1,425,984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its position in shares of Apple by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $59,122,000 after purchasing an additional 28,799 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Evercore ISI restated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $238.14.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on Apple
Apple Stock Performance
AAPL traded down $0.17 during trading on Thursday, hitting $223.66. The stock had a trading volume of 60,167,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,194,383. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.77. The firm has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.20.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm's revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.
Apple Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
About Apple
(
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.
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