Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Bought by Barings LLC

Barings LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 993 shares during the period. Barings LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,260,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 3.9% during the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Disciplined Investments LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 7,166 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,794,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Sharpepoint LLC raised its position in Apple by 3.5% during the first quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its position in Apple by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,184,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $239.69 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 firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $219.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.86. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Moffett Nathanson raised Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price target on Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.