Scott & Selber Inc. Has $23.49 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Scott & Selber Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 114,474 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 6.5% of Scott & Selber Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Scott & Selber Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 28.3% in the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $935,000 after buying an additional 930 shares during the period. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,772,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the second quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,107,000 after buying an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 209.2% in the first quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,507,000 after buying an additional 4,591 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $205.82 to $205.16 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. CLSA raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.29.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s 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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $249.34 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $240.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.