Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Purchased by Equita Financial Network Inc.

Equita Financial Network Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 53.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,116 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,471 shares during the period. Equita Financial Network Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,581,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swmg LLC increased its stake in Apple by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Swmg LLC now owns 7,656 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 545 shares during the period. Krane Funds Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 10,508 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,334,000 after buying an additional 1,455 shares during the period. Penobscot Wealth Management increased its stake in Apple by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Penobscot Wealth Management now owns 12,243 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 106,309 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $23,614,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Finally, FSM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 45,617 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,133,000 after buying an additional 5,219 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.60.

Apple Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $230.89 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $210.28 and its 200-day moving average is $212.94.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.78%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.