Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 27.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,991 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,658 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 0.9% of Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after acquiring an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 158.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,977,582,000 after acquiring an additional 7,067,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 161.2% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after acquiring an additional 5,405,542 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $261.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.27.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $230.57 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $226.64 and its 200 day moving average is $209.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.86, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.