IFG Advisors LLC Buys 4,427 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

IFG Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,707 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,427 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.4% of IFG Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. IFG Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,097,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $311,157,662,000 after buying an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 573,627.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,790,933,000 after purchasing an additional 984,157 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $298.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Melius Research set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.22.

Apple Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $273.33 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $277.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $4.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $254.61 and a 200 day moving average of $226.08.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 13.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,095,030.54. This trade represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.