New Perspectives Inc Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

New Perspectives Inc boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,600 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 1.4% of New Perspectives Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. New Perspectives Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 8,490 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,635,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Ergawealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Ergawealth Advisors Inc. now owns 26,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,083,000 after buying an additional 2,817 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 25,043 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,821,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Apple by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,317,166 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,408,774,000 after buying an additional 84,980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 8,207 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,580,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Apple from $190.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays dropped their target price on Apple from $187.00 to $186.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.62.

Apple Stock Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.77 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $223.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $198.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.