Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Cornerstone Wealth Advisors Inc.

Cornerstone Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,363 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 0.6% of Cornerstone Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Cornerstone Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in Apple by 22,870.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,302,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,250 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $834,368,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.47.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $255.59 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $237.41 and a 200 day moving average of $227.89. The company has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 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 earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 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.