Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 4,648 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 357,701 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,648 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 3.3% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $73,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter worth $17,472,482,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Apple by 13.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Apple by 27.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,870,795,000 after buying an additional 14,651,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,095,030.54. The trade was a 19.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Apple from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Melius Research set a $345.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. CLSA raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.22.

Apple Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $271.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.20, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $259.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $229.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $277.32.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

Apple Company 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.