S. R. Schill & Associates Acquires New Shares in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• S. R. Schill & Associates has taken a new position in Apple Inc., acquiring 1,047 shares valued at approximately $215,000, making it the firm's 24th biggest position.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 67.73% of Apple's stock, with several firms increasing their stakes recently.
• Apple's recent earnings report exceeded expectations, with a revenue of $94.04 billion and an EPS of $1.57, up from $1.40 in the previous year.

S. R. Schill & Associates acquired a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,047 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $215,000. Apple makes up about 0.2% of S. R. Schill & Associates' investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. HBW Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Apple by 27.6% during the 2nd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 47,935 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $9,835,000 after purchasing an additional 10,354 shares in the last quarter. Helen Stephens Group LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Helen Stephens Group LLC now owns 11,783 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,418,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA grew its stake in Apple by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 254,468 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $52,209,000 after purchasing an additional 9,163 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 15,727 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,227,000 after purchasing an additional 4,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Client Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 59.9% in the 2nd quarter. Private Client Services LLC now owns 22,080 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,530,000 after purchasing an additional 8,272 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $266.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, HSBC set a $220.00 target price on Apple and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $242.74.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $7.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $245.50. 163,435,991 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 57,304,879. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $223.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.35. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm'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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.