Saxon Interests Inc. Buys 882 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Saxon Interests Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,286 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 882 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 4.6% of Saxon Interests Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Saxon Interests Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 28.3% in the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 2.8% in the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp increased its holdings in Apple by 3,368.2% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $113,062,000 after purchasing an additional 438,471 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $217.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.60.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $231.59 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $209.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $213.33. The company has a market cap of $3.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.78%.

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.