Emerald Advisers LLC Purchases 2,198 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Emerald Advisers LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 28,340 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,198 shares during the quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bellwether Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 387.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after acquiring an additional 19,352 shares during the period. Gentry Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $876,000. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $80,057,000. Councilmark Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $11,776,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Apple by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,745,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,526,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557,848 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.27.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade 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 valued at $114,786,399 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $230.57 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $226.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $209.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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