Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Raised by Sarasin & Partners LLP

Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 86.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,330,602 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,080,293 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.9% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Apple were worth $399,652,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. DLK Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 77,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,252,000 after buying an additional 2,390 shares in the last quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 4,944 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $848,000 after buying an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 59,274 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,164,000 after buying an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank of Raymore boosted its position in shares of Apple by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Community Bank of Raymore now owns 22,534 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,864,000 after buying an additional 1,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Planning Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 91,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,652,000 after buying an additional 5,596 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 192,355 shares of company stock worth $34,771,329 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $216.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Finally, Maxim Group upped their target price on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.71.

Apple Stock Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $216.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $220.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $192.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.