ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd Raises Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 76,845 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 11,628 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 1.9% of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,905,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners raised its position in Apple by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $59,122,000 after purchasing an additional 28,799 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on Apple to $184.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, 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 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 approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.98 on Tuesday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $241.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.79. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’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 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a 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.