First Horizon Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 344,192 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,793 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.2% of First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $72,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,986,000 after buying an additional 1,643 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $38,406,000. Barden Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 132.8% in the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,283,000 after buying an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunpointe LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $4,782,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Raymond James upped their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.17.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now 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 accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 a total of 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $228.20 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. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.49, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $199.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. 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 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.