Sivia Capital Partners LLC Raises Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,998 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,582 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 5.6% of Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the period. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares during the period. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA increased its position in shares of Apple by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,768,000 after purchasing an additional 19,670 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Citigroup raised their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.68.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $243.01 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $244.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.97, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $229.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $220.90.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s 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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 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.