Zhang Financial LLC Has $29.65 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Zhang Financial LLC raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 179,831 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,817 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 3.4% of Zhang Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $29,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. MKT Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,777,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the first quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,076 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,321,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 16,091 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,653,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Adaptive Financial Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Adaptive Financial Consulting LLC now owns 2,606 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,644 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,260,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Loop Capital cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. Fundamental Research set a $183.86 target price on Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Apple from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Monday, June 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total value of $2,753,216.64. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,363,619.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $182.91 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $198.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $81.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.79 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.68% and a return on equity of 164.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Apple Company 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.