Baillie Gifford & Co. Increases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 820,871 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring 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 quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its position in Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth about $77,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $208.32. The stock had a trading volume of 24,722,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,689,747. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $229.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $168.15 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $233.88.

About Apple

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.