Empire Life Investments Inc. Buys 14,774 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Empire Life Investments Inc. lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 105,173 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,774 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.5% of Empire Life Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Empire Life Investments Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in Apple by 13.4% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,214,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359,409 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 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.

Apple Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $243.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $238.91 and a 200 day moving average of $229.08. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays reduced their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.03.

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.