Kings Path Partners LLC Acquires 1,000 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Kings Path Partners LLC raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 67.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,480 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 target price on Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $237.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $223.66 and a 200 day moving average of $212.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid 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 payout ratio is 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.