Lazari Capital Management Inc. Acquires 1,695 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lazari Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 150,459 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,695 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 14.3% of Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $31,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 14,145.8% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Apple by 158.3% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,977,582,000 after buying an additional 7,067,379 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 161.2% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after buying an additional 5,405,542 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at $834,368,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were 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 directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $225.00 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a PEG 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $227.04 and its 200 day moving average is $216.61. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.