Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 250,066 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $52,669,000. Apple accounts for about 1.8% of Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Apple by 7.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474,887 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,061,296,000 after acquiring an additional 485,873 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Moffett Nathanson assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $228.22 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $215.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.54, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

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.