Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC Increases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,399 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,346 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 3.2% of Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related 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 value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $245.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $240.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $232.55. 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, 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

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.