Gleason Group Inc. Buys 1,230 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Gleason Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 40.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,287 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the quarter. Gleason Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,205 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,735,000 after purchasing an additional 2,640 shares in the last quarter. Asio Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.4% in the second quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 57,535 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,804,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882 shares during the last quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the second quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC now owns 67,757 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,355 shares during the last quarter. Smith Anglin Financial LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Smith Anglin Financial LLC now owns 110,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,662,000 after buying an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cyr Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cyr Financial Inc. now owns 4,472 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $918,000 after buying an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Melius Research set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.29.

Apple Trading Down 0.8%

AAPL stock opened at $247.45 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $240.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $216.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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 $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Apple Company 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.