Elevate Capital Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 20,083 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Elevate Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 20,083 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $5,029,000. Apple comprises about 4.4% of Elevate Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $202.33 to $167.88 in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Apple from $252.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.26.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $198.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $231.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.