Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust Purchases 1,012 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,517 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,794,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fiducient Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 23,128 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 79.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,730,238 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,206,866,000 after buying an additional 2,540,176 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.0% in the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 114,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $24,094,000 after buying an additional 5,466 shares in the last quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 70,585 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,867,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chris Bulman Inc purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at $9,877,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Cfra boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.27.

Insider Transactions at Apple

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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were 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 represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $230.76 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $226.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $209.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. 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.