Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Acquires 4,244 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc increased its holdings in Apple Inc. by 7.3% in the second quarter, making Apple its 9th largest position, valued at approximately $12.77 million.
• Insider sales were reported with SVP Deirdre O'Brien selling 34,821 shares at an average price of $223.20, reducing her ownership by 20.30%.
• Wall Street analysts remain bullish on Apple, with price targets ranging from $240.00 to $290.00, and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,235 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 4,244 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.6% of Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc's holdings in Apple were worth $12,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised 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 valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Apple in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Melius Research set a $290.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $242.74.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded up $7.62 on Friday, reaching $245.50. The stock had a trading volume of 163,435,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,632,036. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. 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 $3.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11. The business's 50 day moving average is $224.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

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

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.