Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by Deltec Asset Management LLC

Deltec Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 23.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 32,613 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,093 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 1.5% of Deltec Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Deltec Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised 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 worth $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.47.

Insider Activity 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. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $252.20 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $237.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $227.89. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Apple 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.