Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Purchases 1,065 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

by · The Markets Daily

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) by 1.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,874 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,065 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.4% of Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Avid Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 28.3% in the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,772,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,107,000 after buying an additional 4,543 shares in the last quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 209.2% in the 1st quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after buying an additional 4,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plum Street Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Plum Street Advisors LLC now owns 7,889 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 224,300 shares of company stock worth $57,586,933 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $268.47 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $252.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $224.54. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $277.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $3.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.08.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $300.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Phillip Securities downgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.22.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on AAPL

About Apple

(Free Report)

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.

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