Annandale Capital LLC Raises Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Annandale Capital LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,139 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 0.9% of Annandale Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Annandale Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,084,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 7.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,887 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,061,296,000 after buying an additional 485,873 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

Apple Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $228.22 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.54, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value 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 $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512 in the last three months. Corporate 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.