Apple Inc. $AAPL Holdings Raised by Verde Capital Management

Verde Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,838 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the quarter. Verde Capital Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Kings Path Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 67.6% during the second quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC now owns 2,480 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 9.3% during the second quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,375 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.1% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 50,239 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 2.5% during the second quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 37,946 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,886,000 after purchasing an additional 936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the second quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.93.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $223.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.