NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Has $108.67 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 466,402 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 11,903 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 3.3% of NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $108,672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Lowery Thomas LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Apple Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $258.20 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $235.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $226.77. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $258.21.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.