GSG Advisors LLC Has $23.05 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

GSG Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,781 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,295 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 7.5% of GSG Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. GSG Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,053,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value 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 $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.16.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $226.79 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $220.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $212.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.78%.

Apple Company 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.