Banque Pictet & Cie SA Acquires 58,170 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 17.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 391,047 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 58,170 shares during the period. Apple comprises 0.7% of Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Apple were worth $82,362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after buying an additional 1,643 shares in the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $38,406,000. Barden Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 132.8% in the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunpointe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,782,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $227.79 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $222.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $202.16. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. Apple’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.76.

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.