Sycomore Asset Management Purchases Shares of 12,296 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sycomore Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 12,296 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $59,122,000 after acquiring an additional 28,799 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $223.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $241.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.82. The company has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.81, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released 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. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate 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 $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Citigroup raised their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.99.

Apple Company 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.