Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Has $12.04 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 54,181 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,581 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.6% of Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $12,035,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in Apple by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 727,580 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $161,617,000 after purchasing an additional 17,663 shares during the last quarter. Trek Financial LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Trek Financial LLC now owns 87,768 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $19,496,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Opus Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Opus Capital Group LLC now owns 16,675 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,704,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 768,417 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $170,688,000 after purchasing an additional 30,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BXM Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. BXM Wealth LLC now owns 21,277 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.9%

AAPL opened at $229.31 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month 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. The company has a fifty day moving average of $213.77 and a 200-day moving average of $212.93. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 15.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Evercore ISI reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $217.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $237.01.

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.

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