Sovran Advisors LLC Invests $12.42 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 53,256 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $12,424,000. Apple comprises about 1.8% of Sovran Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $110,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson set a $290.00 target price on Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $240.26.

Apple Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $198.15 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50 day moving average of $222.87 and a 200-day moving average of $231.16. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.