Quotient Wealth Partners LLC Increases Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 75,776 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.5% of Quotient Wealth Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake 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 worth $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake 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 worth $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.37.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $230.49 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $214.45 and a 200-day moving average of $213.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.98, a PEG ratio of 2.39 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.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.