Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Holdings Lifted by Southeast Asset Advisors Inc.

Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 309,721 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 9,061 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 7.7% of Southeast Asset Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $51,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. MKT Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in 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 increased its holdings in Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 16,091 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,653,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Adaptive Financial Consulting LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Adaptive Financial Consulting LLC now owns 2,606 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the first 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 in the last quarter. 58.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. TD Cowen increased their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. Loop Capital cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.86.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $177.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $186.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.98. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $198.23.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 14th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 11th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total value of $2,753,216.64. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.