BDF Gestion Makes New $90.89 Million Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BDF Gestion bought a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 431,516 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $90,886,000. Apple makes up approximately 8.7% of BDF Gestion’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Axim Planning & Wealth bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $232,000. New Harbor Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 351.0% in the fourth quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,475 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $477,000 after acquiring an additional 3,461 shares during the period. American Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. American Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,981 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the period. SOL Capital Management CO grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. SOL Capital Management CO now owns 98,013 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $18,870,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626 shares during the period. Finally, MA Private Wealth grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. MA Private Wealth now owns 14,086 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,712,000 after acquiring an additional 1,501 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. DA Davidson raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.30.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $229.00 on Friday. 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 50-day moving average price is $221.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $195.77. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 145.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.26 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.