Cumberland Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,300 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cumberland Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,487 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 1.8% of Cumberland Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Cumberland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 7.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,369,852,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474,887 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Apple by 13.4% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,214,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359,409 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 29th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $246.75 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $247.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business’s 50 day moving average is $230.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Apple 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.