SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,921 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 6,875 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.4% of SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings 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 worth $1,977,582,000 after buying an additional 7,067,379 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 161.2% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after acquiring an additional 5,405,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 127.7% during 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. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $261.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. KeyCorp restated a “hold” rating and issued a $247.61 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $230.76 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $226.64 and a 200 day moving average of $209.48. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.89, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. 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 issued its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. Apple’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

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.