Apple Inc. $AAPL is Bennett Selby Investments LP’s Largest Position

Bennett Selby Investments LP lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 149,906 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 10.9% of Bennett Selby Investments LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Bennett Selby Investments LP’s holdings in Apple were worth $30,756,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Presper Financial Architects LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,574,000. Gleason Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter. Gleason Group Inc. now owns 4,287 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Asio Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.4% in the 2nd 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 period. Finally, LexAurum Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the 2nd 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 period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on AAPL. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Melius Research set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Four 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, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.29.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $252.29 on Friday. 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. The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $241.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $216.86.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 over the last ninety days. 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.