5th Street Advisors LLC Buys 3,736 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

5th Street Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 32.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,736 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.7% of 5th Street Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. 5th Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 22,870.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,302,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,250 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in Apple by 14.0% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,496,738,000 after purchasing an additional 3,416,922 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.87 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $240.63 and its 200 day moving average is $230.52. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

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. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.