Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Bought by Blue Sky Capital Consultants Group Inc.

Blue Sky Capital Consultants Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,040 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,227 shares during the period. Apple makes up 3.5% of Blue Sky Capital Consultants Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Blue Sky Capital Consultants Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC raised its position in shares of Apple by 333.3% during the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at $58,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $298.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.22.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $275.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $277.32. 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 simple moving average of $260.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $229.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 13.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.