Bellwether Advisors LLC Purchases 19,352 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 387.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 19,352 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.1% of Bellwether Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Bellwether Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $5,128,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,044,000. ARK & TLK Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,580,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,904,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,681,000. Finally, A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Melius Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Cfra upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $239.27.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock traded up $2.55 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $233.85. 64,708,781 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 60,469,078. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $224.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.