Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Certuity LLC

Certuity LLC boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 169,357 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,158 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 4.6% of Certuity LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $42,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wedbush dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $252.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $202.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.09, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.08 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $221.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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.