Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Purchased by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,490,699 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,347 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.2% of D.A. Davidson & CO.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Apple were worth $305,847,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Blume Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 104,039 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,346,000 after acquiring an additional 16,474 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,910,139 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $391,903,000 after purchasing an additional 10,393 shares in the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 4.4% in the second quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 53,905 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,060,000 after buying an additional 2,255 shares during the last quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14.7% in the second quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC now owns 13,509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,772,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacific Sun Financial Corp raised its stake in Apple by 3.4% in the second quarter. Pacific Sun Financial Corp now owns 47,587 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,763,000 after buying an additional 1,550 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Robert W. Baird set a $300.00 price objective on Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $279.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.22.

Apple Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $271.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $4.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.20, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $277.32. The company’s fifty day moving average is $259.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $228.92.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,030.54. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.