Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Purchases 227,173 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,759,611 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 227,173 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.4% of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.08% of Apple worth $2,476,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 16.6% in the first quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 47,694 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,179,000 after buying an additional 6,796 shares during the period. Deltec Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC now owns 25,004 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,288,000 after acquiring an additional 3,875 shares in the last quarter. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 31.3% in the 1st quarter. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,835 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,887,000 after acquiring an additional 4,018 shares during the period. WJ Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 3.8% in the first quarter. WJ Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,480 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.5% in the first quarter. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 126,294 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,657,000 after acquiring an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple 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 owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 412,746 shares of company stock worth $93,021,362. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.51.

Apple Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $227.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $226.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $213.51. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.