Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Quest Investment Management LLC

Quest Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 31.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 308,533 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 74,304 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 7.2% of Quest Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Quest Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $64,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted 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 worth $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares in the last quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $876,000. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 920,737 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $193,926,000 after buying an additional 8,028 shares during the period. Finally, WT Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $80,057,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.1 %

AAPL stock opened at $226.96 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $226.82 and a 200-day moving average of $214.03. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.33, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Maxim Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple 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.