New Century Financial Group LLC Buys 23,080 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

New Century Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 190.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,177 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,080 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.1% of New Century Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BRIGHT VALLEY CAPITAL Ltd bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at $5,792,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 1,917,646 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $403,895,000 after buying an additional 7,877 shares in the last quarter. Ariadne Wealth Management LP purchased a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,726,000. Aldebaran Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 29,643 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,243,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co increased its position in shares of Apple by 8.7% in the second quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 50,801 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,069 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

AAPL opened at $225.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $227.04 and a 200 day moving average of $215.96. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.