Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Princeton Capital Management LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Princeton Capital Management LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 139,854 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,537 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 10.3% of Princeton Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Princeton Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $32,586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 278,784 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $64,957,000 after purchasing an additional 35,171 shares during the last quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 31.4% in the third quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 52,810 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,305,000 after purchasing an additional 12,630 shares during the period. BIP Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.8% in the third quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 62,622 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,585,000 after buying an additional 7,603 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 8.0% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 717,149 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $167,140,000 after buying an additional 52,940 shares during the period. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 119,973 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,954,000 after buying an additional 1,213 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.82 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.68.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction 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 $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.05.

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.