Estuary Capital Management LP Invests $38.32 Million in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Estuary Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 172,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $38,317,000. Apple makes up about 9.3% of Estuary Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $240.80.

Apple Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of AAPL opened at $234.07 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $221.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio 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.