Hanlon Investment Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hanlon Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 17.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,677 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 1.2% of Hanlon Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Hanlon Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Apple by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Apple by 14.0% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,496,738,000 after purchasing an additional 3,416,922 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.64.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $242.70 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $239.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $229.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.