Quent Capital LLC Acquires 4,790 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 128,908 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,790 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.6% of Quent Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $22,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 worth $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in 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 worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after buying an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,531,834,000 after buying an additional 1,067,587 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Cfra upped their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.63.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 188,884 shares of company stock valued at $38,092,387 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $226.84 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $220.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.44.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.