Ayrshire Capital Management LLC Grows Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ayrshire Capital Management LLC raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 33,414 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 3.6% of Ayrshire Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $85,000. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 100.6% during the fourth quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 483 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 83,965 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Apple from $187.00 to $186.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $247.61 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $170.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.17.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the 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 owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $228.20 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.23. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $200.19. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.49, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm 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 147.15%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.