Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Position Boosted by Timber Creek Capital Management LLC

Timber Creek Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,641 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.4% of Timber Creek Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Avid Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 28.3% during 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 during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% during 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 during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% during 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 during the period. Finally, Allstate Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during 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 during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. UBS Group increased their price target on Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.98.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $224.90 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business has a fifty day moving average of $211.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $213.13. The company has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16.

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 business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.78%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Apple

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.