Apple Inc. $AAPL Stake Raised by Next Level Private LLC

Next Level Private LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,581 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 4,021 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.4% of Next Level Private LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Next Level Private LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in 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. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 3.2%

AAPL opened at $245.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $224.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results 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. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 15.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 8th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price target on Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.