Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires 17,900 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,305,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 5.6% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Apple were worth $304,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lyell Wealth Management LP lifted its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 184,977 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $43,100,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the third quarter. Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,484 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,142,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at about $5,757,000. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 30,390 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,892,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burford Brothers Inc. grew its position in Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. now owns 72,936 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,994,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $258.20 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $258.21. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.47, 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 current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $235.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.77.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Maxim Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

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.