Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Grows Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 587,099 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,036 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.2% of Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $123,655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,915,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 61,193 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009 shares during the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 190.8% in the 2nd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 35,177 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,409,000 after purchasing an additional 23,080 shares during the last quarter. BRIGHT VALLEY CAPITAL Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $5,792,000. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the second quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 1,917,646 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $403,895,000 after buying an additional 7,877 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related 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 value 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 approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $225.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $227.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $215.96.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.