Goldstone Financial Group LLC Has $7.98 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Goldstone Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Apple by 25.5%, acquiring an additional 7,591 shares, bringing its total holdings to 37,354 shares valued at approximately $7.98 million.
• Several hedge funds have recently altered their positions in Apple, with ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC making a significant increase of 1,800% in the first quarter, now owning 190 shares valued at $42,000.
• Apple's most recent earnings report showed a profit of $1.57 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, up 9.6% year-over-year.

Goldstone Financial Group LLC increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 25.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,354 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 7,591 shares during the period. Goldstone Financial Group LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $7,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the company'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 transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of AAPL traded up $7.62 on Friday, hitting $245.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 163,435,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 47,568,860. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $224.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.26. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $290.00 price objective on the stock. Melius Research set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $242.74.

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.