Second Line Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Second Line Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,172 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,284 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.6% of Second Line Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Second Line Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,091,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares during the period. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at approximately $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $225.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $226.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $215.60.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business 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 152.94% 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 in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on Apple in a research report on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price objective on the stock. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

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.