Lyell Wealth Management LP Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lyell Wealth Management LP boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 184,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,209 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.7% of Lyell Wealth Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Lyell Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Apple were worth $38,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Apple by 7.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,369,852,000 after buying an additional 2,474,887 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 3.2% in 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 buying an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.7% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,061,296,000 after buying an additional 485,873 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Apple by 13.4% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,214,222,000 after buying an additional 2,359,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 16.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,993,042 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,085,427,000 after purchasing an additional 2,594,138 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Apple to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.23.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $222.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $227.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.03. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.