Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas Makes New Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 135,226 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $31,508,000. Apple makes up approximately 1.6% of Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas’ holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Absher Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.3% in the second quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC now owns 113,796 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $23,968,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 173,409 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,523,000 after acquiring an additional 5,328 shares during the period. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 74,059 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $15,598,000 after purchasing an additional 6,750 shares in the last quarter. Pacific Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pacific Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,309 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 17,609 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,709,000 after purchasing an additional 2,687 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $244.60 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $240.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $231.59.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Apple from $273.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

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.