Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Raised by Acadian Asset Management LLC

Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 79.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,730,238 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,540,176 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 3.7% of Acadian Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Acadian Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,206,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Allied Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the first quarter. Allied Investment Advisors LLC now owns 82,976 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,229,000 after buying an additional 2,166 shares in the last quarter. Capital CS Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 111.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital CS Group LLC now owns 4,762 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 45,729 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 21,997 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Ballew Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Ballew Advisors Inc now owns 7,842 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. increased its position in shares of Apple by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 604,207 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $103,609,000 after purchasing an additional 83,222 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Cfra upped their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.27.

Apple Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $230.76 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $226.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $209.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.26 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

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.