Centaurus Financial Inc. Raises Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 198,136 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,004 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.8% of Centaurus Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $41,731,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Apple in the first quarter worth $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Apple by 158.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after buying an additional 7,067,379 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 161.2% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after buying an additional 5,405,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $834,368,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup increased their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $225.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $227.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $216.61.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.