Aljian Capital Management LLC Acquires 84,276 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Aljian Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 36.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 313,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 84,276 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 17.1% of Aljian Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Aljian Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $73,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Apple by 14,145.8% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 22,870.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,250 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,496,738,000 after purchasing an additional 3,416,922 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $255.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $234.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $225.91. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $255.65.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

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.