Trexquant Investment LP Buys 114,985 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 56.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 318,413 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 114,985 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 0.8% of Trexquant Investment LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Apple were worth $70,729,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.1% in the first quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 376,678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $83,671,000 after acquiring an additional 11,386 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the first quarter. Graney & King LLC now owns 8,704 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,933,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 2.6% in the first quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 17,895 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,975,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 31.7% in the first quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 29,924 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,647,000 after buying an additional 7,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its stake in Apple by 13.8% in the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 2,366,248 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $525,615,000 after buying an additional 286,753 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Barclays raised their price target on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $266.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have 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 $240.80.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $230.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $221.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.48. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.