Brookstone Capital Management Increases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 583,413 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,969 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 2.0% of Brookstone Capital Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $135,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 7.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,887 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,061,296,000 after purchasing an additional 485,873 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Barclays reduced their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $232.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $228.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $218.64. 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 twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.