Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Buys 30,863 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 13.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 261,880 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 30,863 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.4% of Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $58,171,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays set a $173.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their target price for the company from $170.62 to $188.32 in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Loop Capital cut their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Finally, China Renaissance assumed coverage on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.27.

Apple Trading Down 0.6%

AAPL traded down $1.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $211.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 39,713,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,349,236. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $203.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.12. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.