Fortis Group Advisors LLC Has $16.24 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fortis Group Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 69,696 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,339 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 3.0% of Fortis Group Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Fortis Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 127.4% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after buying an additional 42,282 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 761,774 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $130,629,000 after acquiring an additional 17,519 shares during the last quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 171.4% during the 1st quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 42,930 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,362,000 after acquiring an additional 27,111 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP boosted its position in shares of Apple by 97.3% during the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 157,833 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,065,000 after acquiring an additional 77,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 822,174 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $140,986,000 after purchasing an additional 10,031 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson cut their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued 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 price target of $236.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’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 value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $253.48 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $233.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $224.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $253.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.