Clean Yield Group Raises Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Clean Yield Group grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 104,448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,864 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 7.7% of Clean Yield Group’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Clean Yield Group’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Apple by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,943,000 after buying an additional 42,282 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 506,642 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $86,879,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936 shares in the last quarter. Tobam increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.9% during the first quarter. Tobam now owns 21,459 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,680,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the period. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in Apple during the first quarter worth approximately $88,000,000. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group lifted its position in Apple by 2.6% in the first quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 30,094 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,160,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson cut their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

Apple stock opened at $229.87 on Monday. 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 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.30. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. 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 company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.