Quilter Plc Acquires 58,376 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Quilter Plc grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,081,789 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 58,376 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 5.1% of Quilter Plc’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Quilter Plc’s holdings in Apple were worth $227,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Apple in the first quarter worth about $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 158.3% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,977,582,000 after acquiring an additional 7,067,379 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 161.2% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after acquiring an additional 5,405,542 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $834,368,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $222.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.93, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $227.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.33. 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 (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 $1.49 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target (up from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.