Signaturefd LLC Raises Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 559,032 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 7,314 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 2.0% of Signaturefd LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $114,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in Apple by 3.7% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 40,122 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares in the last quarter. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. now owns 15,406 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,161,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Rezny Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Rezny Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,677 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,985,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Kendall Capital Management boosted its holdings in Apple by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 21,728 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,505 shares during the period. Finally, Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors now owns 9,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,905,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Apple in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 price target on Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $245.27 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $237.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09.

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