Cerity Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 130.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,331,439 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 3.1% of Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Cerity Partners LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Apple worth $1,815,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $560,388,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at $487,435,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,519,244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,826,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018,010 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $182.40 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.37, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.11.

Apple Company 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.