Apple Inc. $AAPL is IFP Advisors Inc’s Largest Position

IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 25.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 424,273 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 85,862 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 2.9% of IFP Advisors Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $94,254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 1st 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 boosted its position in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the 1st 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 boosted its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 4th 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 boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the 1st 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 boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.37.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $232.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $212.63. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 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. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

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.