GSG Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

GSG Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,194 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 413 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 6.2% of GSG Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. GSG Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $21,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the first quarter worth $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 3.7% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective 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. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective 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. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.66.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other 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 value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $252.31 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.29, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $227.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.78. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.78%.

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.