International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 20,372.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 29.5% of International Assets Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its largest position. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned about 0.62% of Apple worth $219,829,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 761,774 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $130,629,000 after acquiring an additional 17,519 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its stake in Apple by 13.7% during the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 991,643 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $170,047,000 after purchasing an additional 119,866 shares in the last quarter. Dodds Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.6% during the first quarter. Dodds Wealth LLC now owns 12,707 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,179,000 after buying an additional 784 shares during the period. Invst LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the first quarter. Invst LLC now owns 49,814 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,470,000 after buying an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 2,568,133 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $440,383,000 after buying an additional 29,162 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.
Insider Transactions at Apple
In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Maxim Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson lowered their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $236.78.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on AAPL
Apple Price Performance
Shares of Apple stock traded up $4.70 during trading on Friday, hitting $254.49. 145,580,875 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 57,671,145. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $255.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $234.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $225.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Apple Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.
Apple 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.
Read More
Before you consider Apple, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Apple wasn't on the list.
While Apple currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Which stocks are major institutional investors including hedge funds and endowments buying in today's market? Click the link below and we'll send you MarketBeat's list of thirteen stocks that institutional investors are buying up as quickly as they can.
Get This Free Report