Apple Inc. $AAPL is Edge Wealth Management LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• Edge Wealth Management LLC has decreased its stake in Apple Inc. by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, now holding 183,912 shares which make up about 7.3% of its total holdings.
• A number of institutional investors significantly increased their stakes in Apple, with Kingstone Capital Partners raising its position by over 573,000% during the same period.
• Research analysts have mixed ratings on Apple, with an average target price of $245.51; recent reports highlight upgrades from UBS Group, Rosenblatt Securities, and Bank of America.

Edge Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 183,912 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,065 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 7.3% of Edge Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Edge Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $37,799,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth about $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the fourth 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 period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 8th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 price target on Apple and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $245.51.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $255.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.76, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $214.08. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple's 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 on 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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