BRIGHT VALLEY CAPITAL Ltd Invests $5.79 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BRIGHT VALLEY CAPITAL Ltd purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 27,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $5,792,000. Apple accounts for about 6.5% of BRIGHT VALLEY CAPITAL Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marmo Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 56.5% during the 1st quarter. Marmo Financial Group LLC now owns 1,681 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. HighMark Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,763 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 63,356 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,391 shares in the last quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 104,140 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,858,000 after buying an additional 1,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Apple by 127.4% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % 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 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Maxim Group increased their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $225.00 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. 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 cap of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $227.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $215.96.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend 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.