Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 870,556 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,192,453 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 870,556 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 3.3% of Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,675,842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 34.3% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.05.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $222.78 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $240.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.