Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC Buys Shares of 21,340 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 21,340 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $4,972,000. Apple accounts for about 4.7% of Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. FMR LLC increased its position in Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 6.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after acquiring an additional 5,893,741 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 91,568,390 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,335,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 58,615,053 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,657,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112,033 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $227.63 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.13, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $231.04.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

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.