Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Boosts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 22,609 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 611 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 2.2% of Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Apple were worth $4,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP grew its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $208,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp restated a “hold” rating and issued a $247.61 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price (up previously from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.27.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 1.2 %

AAPL opened at $235.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company’s 50-day moving average is $225.78 and its 200 day moving average is $208.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

About Apple

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.