Advisory Services Network LLC Buys 28,315 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 883,828 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,315 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.0% of Advisory Services Network LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Advisory Services Network LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $183,456,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 8th. Barclays increased their price target on Apple from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective (up previously from $300.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total value of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,095,030.54. The trade was a 19.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $278.28 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $288.62. The business has a 50 day moving average of $268.24 and a 200-day moving average of $237.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $4.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.