Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp Acquires 5,580 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 99.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,176 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,580 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.3% of Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at $58,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at $99,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $262.77 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $265.29. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $242.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $217.74. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.87, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid 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 15.78%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Phillip Securities cut Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 price target on Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $252.47.

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.