Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Raised by Second Half Financial Partners LLC

Second Half Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 54.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 45,645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,068 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 7.8% of Second Half Financial Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Second Half Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 42.8% in the second quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 299,829 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,993,000 after purchasing an additional 89,865 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 35.7% in the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 25,608 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,501,000 after acquiring an additional 6,735 shares during the period. Callan Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the second quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 85,226 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,652,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322 shares during the period. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 151,793 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $20,978,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $563,000. 57.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, March 10th. Credit Suisse Group set a $184.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Finally, Fundamental Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $168.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.24.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $152.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $144.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.33. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $179.61.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $117.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.67 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 163.45% and a net margin of 24.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.10 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.62%.

Apple Company Profile

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.