Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Has $2.23 Billion Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 18.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,583,232 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,475,580 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 4.4% of Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned approximately 0.06% of Apple worth $2,232,893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Maxim Group increased their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.52.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $233.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.96. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.