Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s Largest Position

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,486,195 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 432,140 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 5.6% of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Apple worth $8,035,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd increased its position in Apple by 23.9% during the third quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 499,426 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $116,265,000 after buying an additional 96,362 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 62,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,563,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 32.6% during the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 356,886 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $83,154,000 after purchasing an additional 87,839 shares during the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 419,435 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $97,726,000 after purchasing an additional 15,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.5% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 660,153 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $153,816,000 after purchasing an additional 16,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.98 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $241.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 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.