Caxton Associates LLP Buys 2,166,699 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Caxton Associates LLP grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13,266.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,183,031 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,166,699 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 11.4% of Caxton Associates LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Caxton Associates LLP’s holdings in Apple were worth $447,892,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 98,917.0% in the second quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,106,000 after buying an additional 57,898,088 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,464.8% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,553,753,000 after buying an additional 26,937,401 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 8th. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Melius increased their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.51.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,030.54. The trade was a 19.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $278.28 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $288.62. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $268.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $237.03. The company has a market cap of $4.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.25, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.92% and a return on equity of 164.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Apple 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.