Promethos Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Promethos Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 36,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $7,740,000. Apple comprises about 2.9% of Promethos Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $949,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $227.48 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $226.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $213.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.