Lokken Investment Group LLC Increases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lokken Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,881 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 3.7% of Lokken Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Lokken Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,768,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Kooman & Associates raised its position in Apple by 0.9% during the second quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 8,436 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,777,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. raised its position in Apple by 20.0% during the second quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 74,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,635,000 after acquiring an additional 12,394 shares in the last quarter. Marsico Capital Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 63.2% during the second quarter. Marsico Capital Management LLC now owns 1,201,151 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $252,986,000 after acquiring an additional 465,216 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Apple by 5.1% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,407,746 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,349,600,000 after acquiring an additional 310,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Brien Greene & Co. Inc raised its position in Apple by 3.8% during the second quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc now owns 62,154 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,091,000 after acquiring an additional 2,289 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Cfra increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 417,924 shares of company stock valued at $94,142,399. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $223.45 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.75, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $226.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $213.44.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

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.