Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,486,195 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 432,140 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 5.6% of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of Apple worth $8,035,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded up $1.72 during trading on Monday, reaching $229.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 68,239,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,481,172. The business's fifty day moving average price is $241.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.79. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business's revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. KeyCorp cut Apple from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush increased their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $239.85.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Company Profile

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.