Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

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Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 25.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 440,718 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 88,783 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 1.9% of Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $76,954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 5,525.0% in the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 225 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Shore Point Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. St. James Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $57,000. Emerson Wealth LLC raised its stake in Apple by 363.6% in the first quarter. Emerson Wealth LLC now owns 408 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Econ Financial Services Corp raised its stake in Apple by 29.1% in the first quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 57.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 96,735 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.95, for a total transaction of $16,923,788.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 110,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,362,241.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 96,735 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.95, for a total transaction of $16,923,788.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 110,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,362,241.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.77, for a total value of $4,119,250.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 427,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,411,823.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $175.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Monday, August 1st. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Friday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Apple from $205.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $170.00 target price on Apple in a report on Monday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $185.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.18.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $167.53 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $129.04 and a one year high of $182.94. The company has a market cap of $2.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.65, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $153.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $157.36.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 28th. The iPhone maker reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 152.97% and a net margin of 25.71%. The firm had revenue of $82.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $82.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.1 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $90.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.18%.

Apple Company Profile

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Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. It also sells various related services. In addition, the company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; AirPods Max, an over-ear wireless headphone; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, HomePod, and iPod touch.