Vestor Capital LLC Has $124.61 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vestor Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 534,795 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 48,327 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 9.8% of Vestor Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $124,607,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.4% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,214,222,000 after buying an additional 2,359,409 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $242.21 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $239.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $229.57. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.84, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly 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 for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.64.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.