Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s 4th Largest Position

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,934,521 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,108 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 4.7% of Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $450,743,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Apple by 127.4% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 37.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 278,379 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $47,736,000 after acquiring an additional 75,939 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 3,199.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,666,108 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $285,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615,618 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Apple by 7.9% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 1,010,341 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $173,253,000 after purchasing an additional 73,898 shares during the period. Finally, Avalon Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Apple by 7.5% in the first quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 465,766 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $79,870,000 after buying an additional 32,639 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group raised their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.68.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $239.59 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $240.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $220.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

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.