Legal & General Group Plc Sells 8,511,505 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 145,590,191 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,511,505 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 6.9% of Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.95% of Apple worth $30,664,206,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 387.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares during the last quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $876,000. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the second quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 920,737 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $193,926,000 after purchasing an additional 8,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $80,057,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $225.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $226.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents 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, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was 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 $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

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.