Raelipskie Partnership Increases Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Raelipskie Partnership increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,559 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 318 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.2% of Raelipskie Partnership’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Raelipskie Partnership’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Apple during the first quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC lifted its position in Apple by 23,076.4% during the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. DA Davidson upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.63.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $224.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $220.03 and its 200 day moving average is $194.13.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 145.35% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 188,884 shares of company stock worth $38,092,387. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.