Bennett Selby Investments LP Buys 901 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bennett Selby Investments LP grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 149,513 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 11.0% of Bennett Selby Investments LP’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Bennett Selby Investments LP’s holdings in Apple were worth $25,638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its holdings in Apple by 9.2% in the first quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 151,226 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,938,000 after purchasing an additional 12,774 shares during the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 12.8% in the first quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 214,187 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,729,000 after purchasing an additional 24,362 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its holdings in Apple by 16.0% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 604,207 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $103,609,000 after purchasing an additional 83,222 shares during the last quarter. Ballew Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Apple by 2.5% in the first quarter. Ballew Advisors Inc now owns 7,842 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network grew its holdings in Apple by 8.4% in the first quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 21,997 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $209.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $220.20. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.94.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush upped their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $196.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.46.

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.