Proficio Capital Partners LLC Acquires 3,386 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 106,350 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,386 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.4% of Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $22,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $778,000. Alpha Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 86.5% in the 4th quarter. Alpha Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,490 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners grew its holdings in Apple by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 61,641 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,868,000 after acquiring an additional 8,264 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 66,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,712,000 after purchasing an additional 8,766 shares during the period. Finally, Howe & Rusling Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 145,346 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,983,000 after buying an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other 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 value of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Erste Group Bank raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Maxim Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $203.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Cfra lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.76.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $226.21 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $203.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date 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.