Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,160,676 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 133,736 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.5% of Victory Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of Apple worth $2,600,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 22,870.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,302,607,000 after acquiring an additional 5,566,250 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in Apple by 14.0% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,496,738,000 after purchasing an additional 3,416,922 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $239.85.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $1.72 during trading on Monday, hitting $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 has a fifty day moving average of $241.01 and a 200-day moving average of $230.79. The company has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Corporate 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.