M&G Plc Boosts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

M&G Plc increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 42.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 292,852 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 87,242 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc’s holdings in Apple were worth $68,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 22,870.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after buying an additional 5,566,250 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in Apple by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,496,738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416,922 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $236.85 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $240.18 and its 200 day moving average is $230.10. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

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 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays raised their price objective on Apple to $184.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

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.