Legal & General Group Plc Has $30.66 Billion Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 145,590,191 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,511,505 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 6.9% of Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Apple were worth $30,664,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Lummis Asset Management LP increased its stake in Apple by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 39,071 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,229,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,776,080 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,427,178,000 after purchasing an additional 763,586 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC now owns 16,312 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,436,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.2% in the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 907,902 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $191,222,000 after buying an additional 84,076 shares during the period. Finally, DE Burlo Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 28.8% during the second quarter. DE Burlo Group Inc. now owns 210,123 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $44,256,000 after buying an additional 47,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Maxim Group boosted their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $225.12 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a 50-day moving average of $226.75 and a 200 day moving average of $215.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.