Keystone Financial Services LLC Has $1.28 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Keystone Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 29.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,754 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.1% of Keystone Financial Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Keystone Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $147,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.60.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $231.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $209.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $213.33. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.