Bernzott Capital Advisors Makes New Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 1,304 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. BFI Infinity Ltd. acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $516,000. Mirador Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 102,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $25,644,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Guardian Financial Partners LLC now owns 14,520 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,636,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 1,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $500,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 72,428 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $18,137,000 after acquiring an additional 2,581 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.88.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’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 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 at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Up 1.9 %

AAPL stock opened at $241.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $3.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $239.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $233.58.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

About Apple

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.