Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Boosted by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,323,592 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 960,937 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.9% of Sei Investments Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,331,874,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 2.3% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,446,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $304,632,000 after purchasing an additional 32,373 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 26.4% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,639,277 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $345,265,000 after purchasing an additional 341,961 shares during the period. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 2.0% in the second quarter. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC now owns 16,940 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,568,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth about $210,000. Finally, Drexel Morgan & Co. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.4% in the second quarter. Drexel Morgan & Co. now owns 44,296 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,330,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson began coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $226.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.33, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $226.82 and a 200 day moving average of $214.03. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.