Ehrlich Financial Group Buys 194 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Ehrlich Financial Group grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,419 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the quarter. Ehrlich Financial Group’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s 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 represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $245.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.25, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $224.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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 business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.74.

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.