Kestra Investment Management LLC Acquires 3,784 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,797 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,784 shares during the quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $13,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heritage Family Offices LLP bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,331,000. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the second quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 15,304 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,223,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 12.0% in the second quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,884 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,609,000 after buying an additional 2,339 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the second quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 1,342,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $282,764,000 after acquiring an additional 17,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foster Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 147,028 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $30,967,000 after acquiring an additional 2,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group increased their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $227.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $241.45 and a 200-day moving average of $230.97. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

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.