McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. Has $7.82 Million Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 27.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 38,127 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,094 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 7.9% of McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,823,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple during the first quarter valued at $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Melius Research set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two equities 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.93.

Apple Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $238.99 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $223.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.36.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend 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 presently 15.78%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.