Apple Inc. $AAPL Position Lifted by Ellsworth Advisors LLC

Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,493 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 330 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 2.1% of Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,260,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Sharpepoint LLC grew its stake in Apple by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $892,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Financial Network Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Phillip Securities downgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $240.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple 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 approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $234.07 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $221.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.02. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 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.