Apple Inc. $AAPL is Liberty Wealth Management LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Liberty Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1,993.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,443,279 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,326,570 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 10.0% of Liberty Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Liberty Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $542,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position 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 valued at $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $266.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.05.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $239.69 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $219.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.86. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.78%.

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.