Apple Inc. $AAPL is Sovran Advisors LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 84,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 3,652 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.9% of Sovran Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Sovran Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased 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 valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $256.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $227.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Phillip Securities lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wedbush set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.66.

Apple 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.