Independence Financial Advisors LLC Invests $1.47 Million in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Independence Financial Advisors LLC has invested $1.47 million in Apple Inc., acquiring 6,619 shares, which represents about 0.6% of their investment portfolio, making Apple their 20th largest position.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Apple, with a consensus target of $239.05 and a majority rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Apple recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, and its earnings surpassed analyst expectations with reported revenue of $94.04 billion.

Independence Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,619 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,470,000. Apple makes up approximately 0.6% of Independence Financial Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $1,877,000. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its holdings in Apple by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $8,845,000 after buying an additional 6,982 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $13,544,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $134,554,000 after buying an additional 69,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $16,742,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Apple from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating 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, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $239.05.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $239.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 54,829,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 47,688,568. The business's 50-day moving average price is $219.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.