Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s 7th Largest Position

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 31,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,626 shares during the period. Apple makes up 2.6% of Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $235.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $238.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.93. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.42, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. DA Davidson set a $290.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.88.

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.