Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,297,612 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,775 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.1% of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $302,344,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd 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 acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Apple Stock Down 0.7 %

Apple stock opened at $236.00 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $241.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.84.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Apple 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.