Atria Investments Inc Raises Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Atria Investments Inc raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 461,237 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 13,889 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.3% of Atria Investments Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $107,468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Citigroup increased their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.87 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $240.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.52. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current 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 issued 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 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio 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.