BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Acquires 1,242,561 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 70.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,004,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,242,561 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.8% of BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $632,731,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Apple by 7.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,887 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the 2nd 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 period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,061,296,000 after acquiring an additional 485,873 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in Apple by 13.4% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,214,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359,409 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. 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 is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold 412,746 shares of company stock worth $93,021,362 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $224.23 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.88, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $226.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $214.68.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.