Sovran Advisors LLC Increases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 51.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,572 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 27,316 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 2.3% of Sovran Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Sovran Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $17,897,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,199,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Avid Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 28.3% in the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $935,000 after buying an additional 930 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,337,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.8% in the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,045,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Finally, Allstate Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $113,062,000 after buying an additional 438,471 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded down $2.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $230.73. The company had a trading volume of 31,276,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,842,020. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $209.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $213.37. 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 capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.16.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. 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 payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.