Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Purchased by Capital Advantage Inc.

Capital Advantage Inc. boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,966 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,071 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.8% of Capital Advantage Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Capital Advantage Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Bank of America raised their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Melius Research set a $290.00 target price on Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, HSBC set a $220.00 target price on Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.66.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $254.43 on Tuesday. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $229.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $213.51. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.11.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.