Range Financial Group LLC Has $1.08 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Range Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 78.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,296 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,763 shares during the quarter. Range Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Childress Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 35.1% in the third quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 54,892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,398,000 after buying an additional 14,247 shares during the period. GYL Financial Synergies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the third quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 213,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,527,000 after buying an additional 4,089 shares during the period. Guidance Point Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 9.7% during the third quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 6,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares during the period. Ardent Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 2.8% during the third quarter. Ardent Capital Management Inc. now owns 146,059 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $25,007,000 after purchasing an additional 3,979 shares during the period. Finally, Flputnam Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in Apple by 2.9% during the third quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 928,730 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $159,008,000 after purchasing an additional 26,402 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $210.62 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $192.13 and its 200-day moving average is $185.46. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $220.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.71.

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.