Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. Invests $31.87 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 136,907 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $31,867,000. Apple accounts for about 9.2% of Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Wedbush raised their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Maxim Group upped their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Loop Capital lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $238.02.

Apple Stock Down 3.2 %

AAPL opened at $222.64 on Wednesday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $241.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.85. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.