Ballentine Partners LLC Purchases 10,395 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 334,162 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,395 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 1.3% of Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $70,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Executive Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Executive Wealth Group LLC now owns 27,821 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,977,000 after purchasing an additional 18,548 shares during the period. Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc now owns 5,488 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $941,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,416,638 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $242,925,000 after purchasing an additional 37,321 shares during the period. Sanders Morris Harris LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 46.2% in the 1st quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC now owns 128,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,037,000 after purchasing an additional 40,605 shares during the period. Finally, FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,938 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,562,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target (up previously from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.27.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $230.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $226.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $209.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

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.