Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Acquired by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,650,810 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 200,576 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 5.8% of Czech National Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $749,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays increased their price target on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 3.2%

AAPL stock opened at $245.50 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $224.35 and its 200-day moving average is $212.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.78%.

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.