FORA Capital LLC Invests $16.05 Million in Apple Inc. $AAPL

FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 78,207 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $16,046,000. Apple accounts for about 1.8% of FORA Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $290,506,933,000 after purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $123,358,461,000 after buying an additional 5,224,229 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $72,506,336,000 after buying an additional 4,942,638 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in Apple by 573,627.2% during the second 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 buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $38,942,255,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, 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 owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,095,030.54. The trade was a 19.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush set a $350.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Apple from $298.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Argus set a $325.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.51.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $278.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $4.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $268.24 and a 200-day moving average of $237.03. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 presently 13.92%.

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.