Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,202 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,756 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 4.3% of Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,079,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Finally, Demars Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 24,931.3% in the 4th quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 10,368,233 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,596,413,000 after purchasing an additional 10,326,812 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.0%

AAPL opened at $198.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $202.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $222.66.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.86.

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.