Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Hartford Investment Management Co.’s Largest Position

Hartford Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 956,855 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,596 shares during the period. Apple makes up 7.3% of Hartford Investment Management Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $222,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 702,624 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $163,711,000 after acquiring an additional 8,960 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its position in Apple by 34.7% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 591,599 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $137,843,000 after purchasing an additional 152,310 shares in the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 6.4% during the third quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,289 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC now owns 7,629 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,777,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevated Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 44,870 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,455,000 after purchasing an additional 9,515 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Apple Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $254.49 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $255.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $234.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $225.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.86, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.