Stonekeep Investments LLC Boosts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Stonekeep Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,627 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.2% of Stonekeep Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Stonekeep Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 88,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $20,628,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares during the last quarter. Bright Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bright Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 16,767 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,907,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Guardian Investment Management increased its holdings in Apple by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Guardian Investment Management now owns 98,729 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $23,004,000 after purchasing an additional 6,647 shares in the last quarter. McCarthy & Cox raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.9% during the third quarter. McCarthy & Cox now owns 1,767 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Crestmont Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Apple by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,166 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $738,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $239.59 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $229.02 and a 200-day moving average of $220.02. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $240.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company 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 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Maxim Group upped their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.