ABLE Financial Group LLC Boosts Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• ABLE Financial Group LLC has increased its holdings in Apple Inc. ($AAPL) by 3.9% during Q2, now owning 46,364 shares valued at approximately $9.5 million, making it the company's 10th largest position.
• A number of institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Norges Bank, have also increased their stakes in Apple, with institutional ownership representing 67.73% of the stock.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Apple, with an average target price of $247.51, following a quarter where the company reported $94.04 billion in revenue.

ABLE Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 46,364 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 1,756 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.3% of ABLE Financial Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. ABLE Financial Group LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $9,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, HSBC set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $247.51.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $257.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company's fifty day moving average price is $232.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $214.38. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.02, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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