Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Lifted by Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC

Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,649 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 6,550 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 6.2% of Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. 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. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after acquiring an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Apple by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 200,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $46,650,000 after acquiring an additional 51,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 387.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after acquiring an additional 19,352 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $234.93 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $228.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $219.23. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.