Arbor Investment Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Arbor Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 135.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 60,011 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,508 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.9% of Arbor Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Arbor Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $13,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the second 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. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Apple by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,214,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,359,409 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 1.3 %

AAPL opened at $255.59 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.04, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day moving average of $237.41 and a 200-day moving average of $227.79. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.