Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC Invests $52.67 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor 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 biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP grew its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $228.22 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $226.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $215.52. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. 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 presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

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.