GPM Growth Investors Inc. Acquires New Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

GPM Growth Investors Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 52,975 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $11,158,000. Apple comprises about 4.7% of GPM Growth Investors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth $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 worth $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Apple by 158.3% during 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 last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 161.2% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,502,068,000 after buying an additional 5,405,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis grew 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 worth $794,465,000 after buying an additional 2,598,742 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $235.00 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $225.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $208.11. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price (up previously from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. KeyCorp reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $247.61 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.27.

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.