Continuum Advisory LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 125,641 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,641 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 3.6% of Continuum Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Continuum Advisory LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $28,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 91,568,390 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,335,435,000 after buying an additional 1,742,087 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.52.

Apple Trading Up 1.8 %

AAPL opened at $236.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $231.30.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents 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.