Artemis Investment Management LLP Buys 8,112 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Key Points

• Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its stake in Apple Inc. by 3.7%, acquiring an additional 8,112 shares, bringing their total to 227,980 shares worth approximately $50.6 million.
• Insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares at an average price of $208.19, which represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership.
• Apple reported $1.57 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, alongside a revenue of $94.04 billion, marking a 9.6% increase year-over-year.

Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 227,980 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 8,112 shares during the quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP's holdings in Apple were worth $50,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $217.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.60.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $2.56 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $229.74. 41,781,765 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 57,888,410. The business's 50-day moving average price is $207.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.10. The company has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.16. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Apple's payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.