Capital Market Strategies LLC Grows Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capital Market Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 67,895 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,857 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 9.0% of Capital Market Strategies LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% during 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 buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,026,492,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Melius Research boosted their price target on Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 188,884 shares of company stock worth $38,092,387 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $226.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $220.32 and a 200 day moving average of $194.44. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 145.35% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.