O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 49.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,168 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,380 shares during the period. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $971,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter worth $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in Apple by 158.3% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after acquiring an additional 7,067,379 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 161.2% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after acquiring an additional 5,405,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $834,368,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.25.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $232.87 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.52 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $228.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $218.64.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.