Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Raises Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 19.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 232,788 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,601 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.0% of Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $47,865,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners increased its holdings in Apple by 0.6% in the second quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 19,335 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,072,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 8.5% in the second quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 19,553 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,119,000 after buying an additional 1,526 shares in the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 3.3% in the second quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,710 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,180,000 after buying an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its holdings in Apple by 9.8% in the second quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 459,427 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $96,765,000 after buying an additional 40,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.6% in the second quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 29,168 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,143,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.17.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $216.79 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $222.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $199.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Apple

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.