Elevated Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 1,278 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Elevated Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,192 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,278 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.6% of Elevated Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 132.8% in the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $220.27 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $193.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.44. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $220.38.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Melius Research lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

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.