Freemont Management S.A. Buys 17,200 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Freemont Management S.A. lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 30.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 73,600 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 17,200 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.3% of Freemont Management S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Freemont Management S.A.’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,101,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. grew its position in shares of Apple by 13.2% in the second quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Apple by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,107,000 after buying an additional 4,543 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 5,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,109,000 after buying an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 209.2% during the 1st quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,507,000 after buying an additional 4,591 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $203.07 to $246.99 in a report on Friday, October 31st. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, CLSA upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.53.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at $2,168,373.35. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.2%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $280.70 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $265.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $4.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.10. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 26.92% and a return on equity of 164.05%. The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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