Freemont Management S.A. Buys 21,300 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Freemont Management S.A. increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 128,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 21,300 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 12.7% of Freemont Management S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Freemont Management S.A.’s holdings in Apple were worth $26,959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 387.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares in the last quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $876,000. WT Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $80,057,000. Councilmark Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $11,776,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Apple by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,745,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,526,874,000 after buying an additional 1,557,848 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $231.41 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $226.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $210.34. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday. Maxim Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $203.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.91.

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.