Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Purchased by Columbia Advisory Partners LLC

Columbia Advisory Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,800 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 0.9% of Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,790,933,000 after purchasing an additional 984,157 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $270.37 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $277.32. The company has a market capitalization of $4.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $248.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.34.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.92%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,373.35. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Argus set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Phillip Securities cut shares of 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. Finally, Melius boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.39.

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.