Gateway Advisory LLC Has $8.44 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Gateway Advisory LLC raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 16,871.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,443,930 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 8,394,176 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.9% of Gateway Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Gateway Advisory LLC owned 0.05% of Apple worth $8,444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 20.0% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 2,615,701 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $456,728,000 after buying an additional 435,891 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 240,628 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Markel Corp increased its position in Apple by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 1,206,990 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $210,752,000 after acquiring an additional 8,450 shares during the period. Camden Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Camden Capital LLC now owns 156,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,305,000 after buying an additional 13,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Island Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the first quarter. Harbor Island Capital LLC now owns 135,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $23,629,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $24,363,619.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $182.91 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.74, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.27. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $186.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.06. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $124.17 and a one year high of $198.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted 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. Apple had a return on equity of 164.92% and a net margin of 24.68%. The business had revenue of $81.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Apple from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 5th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Apple from $180.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 in a report on Friday, June 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Apple from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.