Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Holdings Increased by TKG Advisors LLC

TKG Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,494 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. TKG Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $776,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $217.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. UBS Group increased their price target on Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.60.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 2.0%

Apple stock opened at $226.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.30, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $211.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $213.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.78%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.