Rather & Kittrell Inc. Buys 74 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Rather & Kittrell Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,151 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Apple comprises 0.8% of Rather & Kittrell Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Rather & Kittrell Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 22,870.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,250 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Apple by 14.0% in the 3rd 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. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Apple Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $237.87 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $240.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.12, 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.