Guinness Asset Management LTD Increases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 25th, 2023

Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) by 7.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 129,690 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 8,590 shares during the quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Apple were worth $25,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $30,000. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 200.0% in the third quarter. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP now owns 275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 21.7% during the first quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Clear Perspectives Financial Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 27.3% during the first quarter. Clear Perspectives Financial Planning LLC now owns 983 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $172,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NNS Holding purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $193,000. 58.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, October 9th. Piper Sandler Companies lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.40.

Get Our Latest Research Report on AAPL

Apple Stock Up 0.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $173.44 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $198.23. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $177.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $2.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.07. Apple had a net margin of 24.68% and a return on equity of 164.92%. The firm had revenue of $81.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.13%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 65,536 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.11, for a total value of $11,279,400.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,483,548.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 31,685 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.69, for a total value of $5,661,792.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,237,944.09. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 65,536 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.11, for a total value of $11,279,400.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,483,548.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 455,004 shares of company stock valued at $79,238,767 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.