Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Factory Mutual Insurance Co.

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,920,429 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 67,000 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 3.8% of Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $329,315,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Corporation boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 247,087 shares of company stock valued at $44,016,111. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $210.62 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $220.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.31.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.