Ackerman Capital Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ackerman Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,010 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 258 shares during the quarter. Ackerman Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $221,753,959,000 after purchasing an additional 8,734,393 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $74,002,245,000 after purchasing an additional 569,066,184 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 291,538,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $56,396,763,000 after purchasing an additional 6,367,053 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $38,589,468,000 after purchasing an additional 7,736,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Apple by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,110,586,000 after purchasing an additional 25,926,552 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $172.69 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $2.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.80 and a 12 month high of $199.62. The business’s 50-day moving average is $176.40 and its 200 day moving average is $182.32.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Piper Sandler Companies lowered Apple to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.08.

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.