Rockingstone Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Rockingstone Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,577 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.8% of Rockingstone Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Rockingstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 14,145.8% during 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 during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased 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 valued at $1,977,582,000 after acquiring an additional 7,067,379 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 161.2% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,502,068,000 after acquiring an additional 5,405,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $834,368,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

AAPL opened at $232.87 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $228.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $218.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.30, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.