Axecap Investments LLC Takes $1.62 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Axecap Investments LLC purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,943 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,618,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 34.3% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth about $206,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.9 %

AAPL stock traded up $4.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $254.49. The company had a trading volume of 145,580,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,671,145. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $234.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $225.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $255.00.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a "buy" rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays reduced their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, New Street Research reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple Company 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.