Old North State Wealth Management LLC Buys 1,936 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Old North State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 31,244 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,936 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.3% of Old North State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Old North State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 573,627.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Apple by 27.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,870,795,000 after buying an additional 14,651,321 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.29.

Apple Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of AAPL opened at $254.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $236.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 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 posted $1.40 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190. 0.06% of the stock is 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.