Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Has $7.63 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 18.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 37,307 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 5,784 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 2.6% of Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Apple by 23,555.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of AAPL opened at $231.59 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $209.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $213.14. The company has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10.

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

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.60.

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.