Stonekeep Investments LLC Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Stonekeep Investments LLC purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,532 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,376,000. Apple makes up 1.1% of Stonekeep Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its position in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth about $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $208,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target (up previously from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.91.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $231.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $226.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.62. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

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.