Czech National Bank Has $721.66 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 12.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,097,244 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 350,505 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 7.3% of Czech National Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Czech National Bank's holdings in Apple were worth $721,658,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $206,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. New Street Research reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.25.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $1.33 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $229.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,135,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 58,095,512. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $217.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.57, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.