Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple Inc. by 9.6% during Q1, totaling 24,409 shares valued at approximately $5.42 million.
• Apple's stock recently reached $227.76, with a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, and is forecasted to have earnings per share of 7.28 for the current year.
• The company has authorized a $100 billion stock repurchase program, indicating the board's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 9.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,409 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 2,148 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $5,422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,199,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $935,000 after buying an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,337,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,045,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $113,062,000 after buying an additional 438,471 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays increased their target price on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.98.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded up $2.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $227.76. 42,431,176 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 61,854,304. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. 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 $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.56, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.16. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $212.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.96.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 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 last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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 $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. 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.