Menlo Advisors LLC Has $12.72 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Menlo Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 54,576 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 6.5% of Menlo Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Menlo Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lowery Thomas LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction 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 represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Loop Capital lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Apple from $280.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Stock Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $236.87 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.60, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $240.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $231.30.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

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.