Nicolet Advisory Services LLC Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 154,131 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 3.3% of Nicolet Advisory Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $34,783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, Latitude Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Barclays boosted their target price on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $236.00 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $241.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $230.86. 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 company has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by 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.