Hobbs Group Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hobbs Group Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,473 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.4% of Hobbs Group Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Fortem Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 25,351 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,907,000 after acquiring an additional 899 shares during the period. Asset Allocation Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Allocation Strategies LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,766,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 115,493 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,910,000 after acquiring an additional 4,326 shares during the period. Unconventional Investor LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Unconventional Investor LLC now owns 4,373 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,019,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 480,563 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $111,639,000 after acquiring an additional 50,315 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AAPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Apple from $280.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased their target price on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Maxim Group raised their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $241.53 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $240.70 and its 200-day moving average is $231.34. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released 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 return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.