136,907 Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Purchased by Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.

Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 136,907 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $31,867,000. Apple makes up approximately 9.2% of Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 22,870.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,250 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in Apple by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,496,738,000 after purchasing an additional 3,416,922 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded 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 Tuesday. Finally, New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.02.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 3.2 %

AAPL opened at $222.64 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Apple 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.