Hennessy Advisors Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $105,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Salus Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.9% in the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. SigFig Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 2.8% during the second quarter. SigFig Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Sharpepoint LLC raised its position in Apple by 3.5% during the first quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its position in Apple by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.3% during the first quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $892,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $262.82 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.88, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $265.29. The business’s 50-day moving average is $244.15 and its 200 day moving average is $219.51.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $279.00 price target on Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Apple in a report on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.47.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 value of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981. 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.