Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Bought by Aviva PLC

Aviva PLC increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,488,541 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 724,981 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.9% of Aviva PLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,357,104,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its position in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC raised its stake in Apple by 333.3% in the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $58,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, October 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.53.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $280.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $265.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.58. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect 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 was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.92%.

Apple Company 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.