Proffitt & Goodson Inc. Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Proffitt & Goodson Inc. lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.7% of Proffitt & Goodson Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Proffitt & Goodson Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Gould Asset Management LLC CA grew its position in shares of Apple by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Gould Asset Management LLC CA now owns 29,864 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,750,000 after buying an additional 3,119 shares during the last quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $1,162,000. Evolution Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 145.1% in the 4th quarter. Evolution Advisers Inc. now owns 5,490 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after buying an additional 3,250 shares during the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 434,160 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $83,589,000 after buying an additional 23,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 360,159 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,544 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $187.00 to $186.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Loop Capital raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $227.37 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $222.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $201.22. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its 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 analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

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.