Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Acquired by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 23.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,414,514 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 458,683 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 4.0% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Apple were worth $495,386,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 409,544 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $83,945,000 after acquiring an additional 28,170 shares during the period. Maia Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 9.0% in the second quarter. Maia Wealth LLC now owns 30,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,231,000 after purchasing an additional 2,520 shares in the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in Apple in the second quarter worth $834,000. Boxwood Ventures Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 5.4% during the second quarter. Boxwood Ventures Inc. now owns 39,767 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,159,000 after buying an additional 2,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blueprint Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 12.3% during the second quarter. Blueprint Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,063,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Barclays increased their target price on Apple from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.51.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,373.35. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $278.78 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $267.42 and a 200-day moving average of $235.90. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $288.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $4.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.92%.

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.