Custom Index Systems LLC Has $9.66 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Custom Index Systems LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 41,466 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 3,683 shares during the period. Apple comprises 5.2% of Custom Index Systems LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Custom Index Systems LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. RDA Financial Network grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% in the second quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 40,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 38,082 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,021,000 after buying an additional 5,077 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 189,197 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,848,000 after buying an additional 1,285 shares during the last quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,024 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenfield Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Greenfield Savings Bank now owns 68,568 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,442,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.47.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $255.59 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $237.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $227.65. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. 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 company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.04, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.