GAMMA Investing LLC Has $57.78 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 15.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 230,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,508 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 4.9% of GAMMA Investing LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $57,777,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,848,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lowery Thomas LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $244.60 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $240.70 and a 200 day moving average of $231.68. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Argus upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.52.

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.