Interchange Capital Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Interchange Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 98.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 80,430 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 39,990 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 5.0% of Interchange Capital Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Interchange Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $17,865,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Avid Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Apple by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 4.6% in the 4th 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 during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $42,045,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Finally, Allstate Corp raised 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 valued at $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $237.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock traded up $0.80 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $230.11. The stock had a trading volume of 19,336,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,990,016. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock's 50 day moving average is $213.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.93. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend 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 initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management 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.