Capital Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 17,121 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 438,984 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,121 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.1% of Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $102,283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth about $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Apple by 158.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after acquiring an additional 7,067,379 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 161.2% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,502,068,000 after acquiring an additional 5,405,542 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $834,368,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

Apple stock opened at $247.96 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $231.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $222.83. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $250.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

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.