Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 26.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,204 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,636 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.0% of Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,625,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC raised its stake in Apple by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 2,206 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the second quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,757 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 104.9% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 130,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,539,000 after purchasing an additional 66,928 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 19.0% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,250,800 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $474,063,000 after purchasing an additional 360,000 shares during the period. Finally, GDS Wealth Management boosted its position in Apple by 11.1% in the second quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 90,025 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $18,961,000 after buying an additional 9,021 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Barclays lowered their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $222.01 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $227.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $213.03. The company has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 145.09% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 417,924 shares of company stock worth $94,142,399. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.