Sarasin & Partners LLP Purchases 510,535 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 451.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 623,698 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 510,535 shares during the quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Apple were worth $102,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. St. James Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 98.3% during the fourth quarter. St. James Investment Advisors LLC now owns 236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 200.0% during the third quarter. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP now owns 275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 21.7% during the first quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $93,000. 58.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Fundamental Research set a $183.86 target price on Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 17th. 51job reiterated a “maintains” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. UBS Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Monday, June 12th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.86.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total value of $2,753,216.64. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,363,619.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $189.46 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $124.17 and a 52-week high of $198.23. The company has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $81.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.79 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.92% and a net margin of 24.68%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 14th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 11th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.13%.

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.