Arcus Capital Partners LLC Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Arcus Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,672 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,585 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 1.5% of Arcus Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Arcus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. increased its holdings in Apple by 13.2% in the second quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Avid Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust increased its stake in Apple by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,107,000 after purchasing an additional 4,543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 209.2% during the first quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,507,000 after buying an additional 4,591 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. CLSA upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their target price on Apple from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Phillip Securities downgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at $2,168,373.35. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $267.46 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $277.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $256.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $227.43.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.92%.

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.