Sandy Cove Advisors LLC Purchases 7,394 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sandy Cove Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 15.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 55,088 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,394 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 5.2% of Sandy Cove Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,603,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 4th 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 acquired a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its position in Apple by 23,076.4% during the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Apple by 158.3% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,977,582,000 after buying an additional 7,067,379 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. 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 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $226.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $222.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $201.22. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $187.00 to $186.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated 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. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. One equities research 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, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.76.

About Apple

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.