Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by GFG Capital LLC

GFG Capital LLC boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 113,887 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 6.9% of GFG Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. GFG Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $26,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Apple during the first quarter worth about $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $834,368,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Apple by 6.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Finally, Tairen Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $588,952,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $251.04 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $233.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.30. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $251.38. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.29, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

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.