Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. Purchases 64 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,821 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 4.3% of Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Apple by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Apple by 7.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,369,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,887 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,061,296,000 after purchasing an additional 485,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Apple by 13.4% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,214,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,359,409 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $226.96 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.33, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $226.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.03.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders 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 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Cfra increased their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.51.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,275. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.