Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Purchased by Swmg LLC

Swmg LLC lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,656 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the quarter. Swmg LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st 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. boosted its position in Apple by 3.7% in the 4th 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 boosted its position in Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th 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 boosted its position in Apple by 13.3% in the 4th 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. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $230.89 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. 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 simple moving average is $210.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.94. The firm has a market cap of $3.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.16.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on AAPL shares. China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Two equities research 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, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.60.

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.