Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Acquired by Lewis Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Lewis Asset Management LLC increased its position in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 32.9% in Q2, holding 52,145 shares valued at $10.7 million, making it the firm's second largest investment.
• Key institutional investors including Vanguard Group and Geode Capital Management have also adjusted their stakes in Apple, demonstrating strong institutional interest in the stock.
• Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Apple with an "outperform" rating and a price target of $290.00, while analysts' consensus rating remains a "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $245.51.

Lewis Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 32.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,145 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 12,923 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 5.0% of Lewis Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Lewis Asset Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $10,699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after buying an additional 5,005,297 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,999,145,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $290.00 price target for the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $245.51.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $255.45 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $231.34 and its 200-day moving average is $214.08. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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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