Windward Capital Management Co. CA Acquires 48,284 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Windward Capital Management Co. CA increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,024,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,284 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 18.2% of Windward Capital Management Co. CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Windward Capital Management Co. CA’s holdings in Apple were worth $238,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% during 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 holdings in Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 5,566,250 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.0% in 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 during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $233.28 on Wednesday. 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 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.37, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $240.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.52.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s 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.