Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. Boosts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,992 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.0% of Lifestyle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,862,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Maxim Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on Apple to $184.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $236.85 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $240.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.22. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.96, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 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.