Baillie Gifford & Co. Acquires 75,166 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 820,871 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 75,166 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co.'s holdings in Apple were worth $205,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC now owns 28,266 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $7,078,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Hoge Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Apple by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Hoge Financial Services LLC now owns 5,450 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $2,469,000. WBH Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. WBH Advisory Inc. now owns 76,594 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $19,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,051 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,772,000 after buying an additional 1,495 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $263.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $202.33 to $167.88 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $233.88.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

AAPL stock traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $209.28. The company had a trading volume of 38,183,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,765,391. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.22, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.11 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple 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.