AdvisorShares Investments LLC Acquires 275 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

AdvisorShares Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $311,157,662,000 after acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,790,933,000 after purchasing an additional 984,157 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $278.63 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $280.38. The firm has a market cap of $4.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.28, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. 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 50-day simple moving average of $263.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $231.86.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays upped their target price on Apple from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $325.00 price objective on Apple in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.22.

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.