Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Acquired by J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC

Key Points

• J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. by 2.5% in Q1, acquiring 4,449 shares, bringing its total holdings to 185,707 shares worth approximately $41.25 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Apple, with JPMorgan Chase increasing its objective from $250 to $255, and the company currently holds a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $239.05.
• Apple recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, representing a 0.4% yield, as part of a strategy to return value to shareholders amidst growth in quarterly revenue.

J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 185,707 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 4,449 shares during the period. Apple makes up 7.1% of J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $41,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $266.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $239.05.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $239.69. 54,829,143 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 47,688,568. The company has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11. The stock's 50 day moving average is $219.28 and its 200 day moving average is $212.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month 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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.