Barings LLC Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Barings LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 993 shares during the period. Barings LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple during the first quarter worth $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $82,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the business’s 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 directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.05.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $239.69 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $219.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.86.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 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.