Granite Investment Partners LLC Buys 7,606 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.5% of Granite Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $60,958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 9.2% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 83,256 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $17,535,000 after acquiring an additional 7,025 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 702,402 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $147,940,000 after purchasing an additional 15,916 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $1,348,000. GM Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Apple by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 206,043 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $43,397,000 after acquiring an additional 2,530 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.5% in the second quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 54,343 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,309 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Moffett Nathanson began coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s 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 owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 412,746 shares of company stock worth $93,021,362. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $227.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $226.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $213.51. The firm has a market cap of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

About Apple

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.