Capital Advisors Inc. OK Buys 10,643 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Capital Advisors Inc. OK grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 721,426 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 10,643 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.2% of Capital Advisors Inc. OK's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Capital Advisors Inc. OK's holdings in Apple were worth $160,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 25,934.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% during 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $240.00 target price (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.37.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were 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 directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.80 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $230.11. The company had a trading volume of 19,336,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,990,016. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16. The business's fifty day moving average is $213.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.93. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were given 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 (DPR) is currently 15.78%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Company 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.