City Center Advisors LLC Acquires 269 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

City Center Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,878 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 0.9% of City Center Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. City Center Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First National Bank of Hutchinson grew its position in Apple by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,982 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Apple by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $134,554,000 after acquiring an additional 69,207 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Apple by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,742,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its position in Apple by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,587,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 21st. HSBC set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.4%

AAPL opened at $238.99 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $223.15 and its 200 day moving average is $212.36. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.78%.

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.