Telligent Fund LP Purchases 14,000 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Telligent Fund LP increased its position in Apple Inc. by 140.0% during the first quarter, making it the fund's 6th largest holding at approximately $5.33 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Geode Capital Management LLC, also scaled up their investments in Apple, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Apple recently reported earnings of $1.57 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, contributing to a 0.4% annual yield.

Telligent Fund LP grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 140.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,000 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 5.9% of Telligent Fund LP's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Telligent Fund LP's holdings in Apple were worth $5,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $13,772,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TruWealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $266.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. BMO Capital Markets restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. DA Davidson restated a "neutral" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $240.80.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock traded up $3.89 during trading on Friday, hitting $233.92. 35,600,487 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,755,895. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $221.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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