KB Financial Partners LLC Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 3,778 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $623,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the first quarter valued at $30,000. St. James Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 98.3% in the 4th quarter. St. James Investment Advisors LLC now owns 236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP grew its stake in shares of Apple by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP now owns 275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its holdings in Apple by 21.7% in the first quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. 58.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of the company’s 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $176.30 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $198.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 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 50 day simple moving average is $185.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.05.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 14th were paid 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 dividend yield of 0.54%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. 51job restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 2nd. TD Cowen raised their target price on Apple from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Apple from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Apple from $180.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.72.

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.