Southern Capital Advisors LLC Has $4.13 Million Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Southern Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,120 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 484 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.1% of Southern Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Southern Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. First National Bank of Hutchinson grew its stake in shares of Apple by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,544,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $134,554,000 after buying an additional 69,207 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its stake in shares of Apple by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Loop Capital cut their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Seaport Res Ptn raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 3.5%

Apple stock opened at $245.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.22, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $237.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $215.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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. 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.