Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Acquired by Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC

Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 59.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,497 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,307 shares during the quarter. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 58,059 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,527,000 after buying an additional 742 shares during the period. Baugh & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Baugh & Associates LLC now owns 70,363 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $15,829,000 after buying an additional 1,842 shares during the period. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,721,000. Wealth Architects LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Architects LLC now owns 182,203 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,453,000 after buying an additional 12,052 shares during the period. Finally, Prudent Investors Network Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Prudent Investors Network Inc. now owns 8,774 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,044,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $236.85 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.96, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $240.18 and a 200 day moving average of $230.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 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 analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict 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 was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.