38,186 Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Acquired by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,406,363 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,186 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 5.3% of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Apple were worth $801,367,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Apple by 4.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 630,662,494 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $182,897,769,000 after purchasing an additional 28,321,085 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $65,950,297,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $36,986,090,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,443,242,000. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in shares of Apple by 23.2% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 73,082,616 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $18,547,637,000 after buying an additional 13,780,080 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,392 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.05, for a total transaction of $480,309.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 17,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,051,831.95. This represents a 7.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO John Ternus sold 25,412 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.94, for a total value of $8,460,671.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 59,567 shares in the company, valued at $19,832,236.98. The trade was a 29.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 289,252 shares of company stock valued at $96,301,063 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $349.51 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $334.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $297.58. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $243.42 and a 12 month high of $354.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 125.35% and a net margin of 27.60%. The company had revenue of $114.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 12th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, August 17th. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Citic Securities upped their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $349.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $343.51.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Post-election relief helped lift major technology stocks, including Apple, as investors saw reduced near-term uncertainty. CNBC article
• Positive Sentiment: Apple reached a record high amid signs of renewed demand. Investors are also weighing the rollout of Apple Intelligence in China, which could help close a competitive gap in a major market. Invezz article
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple is reducing employee budgets for AI tools as it seeks to manage expenses, while reported research costs have climbed 32%. Cost control may help, but the spending trend underscores the expense of competing in AI. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Rising memory prices remain a key risk to profitability: Apple expects higher component costs to pressure holiday-quarter gross margins, and its manufacturing purchase commitments have increased. MarketBeat article
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and margin concerns persist despite the rally; DZ Bank downgraded Apple to sell, citing a $300 price target. MarketBeat ratings

About Apple

Apple Inc designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and digital services. Its best-known products include the iPhone smartphone, Mac personal computers, iPad tablets, Apple Watch, AirPods and other accessories. The company also develops operating systems and applications that support its hardware ecosystem.

Apple’s services business includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, iCloud, Apple Pay and other subscription, payment and digital-content offerings.