Great Oak Capital Partners LLC Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Great Oak Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,978 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 0.4% of Great Oak Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Great Oak Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,129,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 127.4% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the period. Smart Money Group LLC lifted its position in Apple by 28.5% during the first quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 6,309 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,075,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 7.0% during the first quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 674,326 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $115,633,000 after buying an additional 44,374 shares during the period. Integrity Financial Corp WA increased its position in shares of Apple by 5.8% in the first quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 29,400 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patron Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 48,158 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,258,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $235.06 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $228.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $219.01. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.