Ameriprise Financial Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 3.0% of Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.34% of Apple worth $10,909,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.51.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $224.23 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49. The company has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.06.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

About Apple

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.