Commons Capital LLC Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Commons Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 40,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,089 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 10.3% of Commons Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Commons Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 7,067,379 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 161.2% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after purchasing an additional 5,405,542 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis increased its stake in shares of Apple by 127.7% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 4,632,987 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $794,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,598,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Up 1.2 %

AAPL stock opened at $235.00 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $225.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $208.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.60 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 2.40 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Cfra raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Raymond James lifted their price target 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.27.

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.