Continuum Advisory LLC Acquires 7,641 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 125,641 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 7,641 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 3.6% of Continuum Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Continuum Advisory LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $28,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Heritage Family Offices LLP bought a new stake in Apple during the second quarter valued at about $3,331,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 19.5% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 6,321,897 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,331,518,000 after acquiring an additional 1,031,405 shares during the period. Clayton Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.2% during the second quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 32,694 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,886,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the period. White Wing Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Apple by 2.9% during the second quarter. White Wing Wealth Management now owns 8,143 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,715,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the second quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 1,416,737 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $298,393,000 after buying an additional 26,192 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI increased 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Apple from $273.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % 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.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $236.87 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $231.30. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Apple 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.