Verisail Partners LLC Purchases 430 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Verisail Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 15.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,180 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Apple comprises 0.3% of Verisail Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Verisail Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Variant Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.0% during the second quarter. Variant Private Wealth LLC now owns 39,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,200,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Uptick Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 43.7% during the 2nd quarter. Uptick Partners LLC now owns 22,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,677,000 after buying an additional 6,934 shares in the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC boosted its holdings in Apple by 333.3% in the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 16.0% during the second quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 101,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $20,825,000 after buying an additional 14,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 81,217 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,907 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Phillip Securities cut Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.22.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $272.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $255.27 and a 200-day moving average of $226.41. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $277.32.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.