Apple Inc. $AAPL is D.A. Davidson & CO.’s 5th Largest Position

D.A. Davidson & CO. reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,488,352 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 26,688 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 2.7% of D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Apple were worth $330,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

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 value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $230.56 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.99, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $210.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.