Apple Inc. $AAPL Position Lifted by Dagco Inc.

Dagco Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,097 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 734 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.4% of Dagco Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Dagco Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at about $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of AAPL opened at $234.35 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $220.46 and a 200 day moving average of $212.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.56, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.99.

Apple 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.