B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,682,864 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $625,084,000. Apple comprises 6.2% of B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding.
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Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in Apple by 88.9% in the third 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. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.
A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $253.00 target price (down from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.05.
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In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.
AAPL opened at $238.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.19, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $240.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.70. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.
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.
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