City Center Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

City Center Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,425 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.0% of City Center Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. City Center Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth about $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

AAPL stock opened at $245.83 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $240.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.29. The company has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) 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 anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.