Apple Inc. $AAPL Position Boosted by Fiduciary Alliance LLC

Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 246,036 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 12,262 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 3.8% of Fiduciary Alliance LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Fiduciary Alliance LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $50,479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $311,157,662,000 after acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Two investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.03.

Apple Trading Up 4.3%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $256.08 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $225.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.22. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10.

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 the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Apple Company 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.