Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Has $174.99 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 37.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 698,798 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 188,807 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 3.5% of Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $174,993,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $77,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $275.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. KeyCorp reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Four investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.85.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $245.55 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $232.72. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.98, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Apple Company 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.