Rockingstone Advisors LLC Buys 85 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Rockingstone Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 24,577 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 85 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.8% of Rockingstone Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Rockingstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 6.8% in the third quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 27,661 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,445,000 after acquiring an additional 1,751 shares during the period. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 8.1% in the third quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,829 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,767 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in Apple by 2.6% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 583,413 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $135,935,000 after buying an additional 14,969 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co of Kansas increased its position in Apple by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of Kansas now owns 42,829 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,979,000 after purchasing an additional 2,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reliant Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the third quarter. Reliant Investment Management LLC now owns 44,787 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,435,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $232.87 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $228.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $218.64.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. 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.