Sarasin & Partners LLP Acquires 698,732 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 30.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,029,334 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 698,732 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 5.7% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Apple were worth $638,038,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 17.9% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. increased its holdings in Apple by 657.1% during the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $85,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp restated a “hold” rating and set a $247.61 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $187.00 to $186.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Cfra lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Loop Capital raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $220.69 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $222.43 and a 200-day moving average of $199.41. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

About Apple

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.