Continuum Advisory LLC Purchases 6,439 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 132,387 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,439 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.8% of Continuum Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Continuum Advisory LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $29,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. KeyCorp raised Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup raised their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.25.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $202.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.71, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.17. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $205.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $213.60.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 172.48% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

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.