Sharper & Granite LLC Purchases 530 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Sharper & Granite LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,757 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 1.2% of Sharper & Granite LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Sharper & Granite LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Baker Boyer National Bank raised its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank now owns 18,011 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,695,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.9% during the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Red Tortoise LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Red Tortoise LLC now owns 5,717 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. SigFig Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. SigFig Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shariaportfolio Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. now owns 3,999 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $820,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Loop Capital raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $315.00 in a report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Apple from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.22.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $275.92 on Tuesday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $260.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.92. The firm has a market cap of $4.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.87, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is 13.92%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,373.35. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.