Liberty One Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Liberty One Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,400 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 1,323 shares during the quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $5,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the 1st 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 boosted its stake in Apple by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Finally, Allstate Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 3,368.2% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $113,062,000 after purchasing an additional 438,471 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Barclays raised their price target on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group increased their target price on Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.01.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $229.31 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $213.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.93. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16. 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 results 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 return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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