Sapient Capital LLC Acquires 48,738 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sapient Capital LLC raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,368,787 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,738 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 6.4% of Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $318,927,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,566,000. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,808,000. Paladin Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,871,000. Orca Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.6% during the third quarter. Orca Investment Management LLC now owns 40,046 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,331,000 after buying an additional 2,116 shares during the period. Finally, Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ acquired a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $32,146,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays dropped their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $242.65 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $229.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.74. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $242.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

Apple 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.