Professional Financial Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Professional Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,870 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 188 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 0.8% of Professional Financial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Professional Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $33,912,466,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Apple during the first quarter valued at about $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 9,200,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Apple by 158.3% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after purchasing an additional 7,067,379 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $222.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.60, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $223.14 and a 200 day moving average of $198.63. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.23.

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 firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid 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 currently 15.55%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $261.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Moffett Nathanson began coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective (up previously from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.62.

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.