Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Holdings Raised by Global Assets Advisory LLC

Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 5.1% of Global Assets Advisory LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Global Assets Advisory LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Apple worth $1,584,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Childress Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 54,892 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $9,398,000 after purchasing an additional 14,247 shares during the period. GYL Financial Synergies LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.0% during the third quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 213,349 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $36,527,000 after buying an additional 4,089 shares during the period. Guidance Point Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 9.7% during the third quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 6,731 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,153,000 after buying an additional 597 shares during the period. Ardent Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the third quarter. Ardent Capital Management Inc. now owns 146,059 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $25,007,000 after buying an additional 3,979 shares during the period. Finally, Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.9% during the third quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 928,730 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $159,008,000 after buying an additional 26,402 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock traded down $3.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $210.62. The company had a trading volume of 82,542,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 85,830,000. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $220.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $192.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.40.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

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.