Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Boosts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,458,210 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 6,092 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 6.5% of Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $339,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,287,000 after purchasing an additional 2,677 shares during the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 243,299 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $56,689,000 after buying an additional 934 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 65,926 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,126,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.8% in the third quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC now owns 36,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,539,000 after buying an additional 655 shares during the period. Finally, W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 29,406 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,852,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $242.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $239.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.75.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Maxim Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.64.

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.