6,354 Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Acquired by Newport Capital Group LLC

Newport Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 6,354 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,338,000. Apple accounts for approximately 1.1% of Newport Capital Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Apple by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474,887 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,061,296,000 after purchasing an additional 485,873 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

AAPL opened at $225.00 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company’s 50-day moving average is $226.96 and its 200 day moving average is $215.60.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Maxim Group lifted their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

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.