Vista Investment Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vista Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,320 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Apple comprises 3.5% of Vista Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Vista Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $406,099,000 after acquiring an additional 95,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 19,670 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, November 25th. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Maxim Group upped their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson cut their price target on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $247.77 on Wednesday. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $230.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $222.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.75, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $248.21.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.