Tran Capital Management L.P. Grows Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Tran Capital Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 335.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,517 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,559 shares during the quarter. Tran Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Ergawealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Ergawealth Advisors Inc. now owns 26,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,083,000 after purchasing an additional 2,817 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 25,043 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,821,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 8,207 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.62.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $222.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $223.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $198.23. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm’s revenue 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 research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Apple Company 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.