Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Taurus Asset Management LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Taurus Asset Management LLC increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 328,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,681 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 7.4% of Taurus Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Taurus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $76,479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% in 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 buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew 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 valued at $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 22,870.6% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,302,607,000 after buying an additional 5,566,250 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in Apple by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,496,738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416,922 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Raymond James upped their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.05.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $222.78 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.70. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.