FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Sells 1,672 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,268 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,672 shares during the quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 34,486,195 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,035,283,000 after acquiring an additional 432,140 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $223.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $241.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.82. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’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 value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, 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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.99.

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.