Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.'s Largest Position

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 19.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,252,147 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 1,699,474 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 5.9% of BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.'s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. owned about 0.07% of Apple worth $2,388,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,566,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Latitude Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $253.00 price objective (down from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $238.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $1.74 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $237.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 32,786,231 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,478,961. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $241.37 and a 200 day moving average of $230.81. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 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 the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company's revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.