Great Oak Capital Partners LLC Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Great Oak Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,978 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 0.4% of Great Oak Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Great Oak Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,129,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Finally, SMH Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $235.06 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $228.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.