Pointe Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Pointe Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,923 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.2% of Pointe Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Pointe Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $255.59 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $237.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $227.65. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.04, a PEG 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.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.47.

About Apple

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.