Clear Rock Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Clear Rock Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,189 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,258 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 1.4% of Clear Rock Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Clear Rock Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Apple by 7.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,369,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,887 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,061,296,000 after purchasing an additional 485,873 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was 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 approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $225.00 on Monday. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $216.61. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.