Eight 31 Financial LLC Has $5.49 Million Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Eight 31 Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,733 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 809 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.5% of Eight 31 Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Eight 31 Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple in the first quarter worth $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Melius Research set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $240.80.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $234.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $221.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.39. The company has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 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 released its 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. 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 in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

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.