Range Financial Group LLC Acquires 2,763 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Range Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 78.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,296 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,763 shares during the quarter. Range Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 69.0% during the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC raised its position in Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. raised its position in Apple by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $85,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $210.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $192.13 and a 200 day moving average of $185.46. The firm has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $220.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. DA Davidson raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Melius Research lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. 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 three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.