TT Capital Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

TT Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,630 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $939,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. grew its holdings in Apple by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $729,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the second quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,107,000 after purchasing an additional 4,543 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its position in Apple by 17.9% in the second quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 5,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 209.2% during the first quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 4,591 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $203.07 to $246.99 in a report on Friday, October 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $282.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the business’s 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $278.28 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $268.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $237.28. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $288.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.92% and a return on equity of 164.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.