Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.’s Largest Position

Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,005 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,036 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 7.0% of Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 8.6% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,343 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,658 shares during the last quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 63,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,046,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the period. Ellenbecker Investment Group boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 36,816 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,754,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 19,185 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,041,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $255.59 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $237.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $227.89. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 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 revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.