CX Institutional Raises Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

CX Institutional grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 71.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 143,442 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 59,742 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 1.3% of CX Institutional’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. CX Institutional’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Patron Partners LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 49,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,115,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Brio Consultants LLC grew its stake in Apple by 3.3% in the first quarter. Brio Consultants LLC now owns 72,657 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294 shares in the last quarter. TTP Investments Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 10.2% in the first quarter. TTP Investments Inc. now owns 96,655 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,938,000 after purchasing an additional 8,936 shares in the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA grew its stake in Apple by 7.4% in the first quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 158,130 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,076,000 after purchasing an additional 10,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Apple by 19.2% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 82,553 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,613,000 after purchasing an additional 13,312 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total transaction of $2,753,216.64. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,363,619.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $184.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a fifty day moving average of $186.68 and a 200 day moving average of $172.77. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.17 and a 1 year high of $198.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $81.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.79 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.92% and a net margin of 24.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 4th that authorizes the company to buyback $90.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Apple from $180.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Raymond James upped their target price on Apple from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. 51job restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, June 2nd. Piper Jaffray Companies upped their target price on Apple from $180.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, August 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.86.

About Apple

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.