Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Acquires 17,645 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 502,086 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 17,645 shares during the period. Apple comprises 4.3% of Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $105,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bellwether Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 387.3% in the second quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares during the period. Gentry Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth about $876,000. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth about $80,057,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Apple by 10.3% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,745,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,526,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,848 shares during the period. Finally, Councilmark Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the first quarter worth about $11,776,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Cfra boosted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $223.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.75, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $226.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $213.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 417,924 shares of company stock worth $94,142,399. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.