Bleakley Financial Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 616,693 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,426 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 3.2% of Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $126,527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in Apple by 573,627.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the fourth 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. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,790,933,000 after buying an additional 984,157 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, October 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $271.49 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $259.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $229.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.20, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $277.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Apple 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.