Childress Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Childress Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 51,559 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 3.2% of Childress Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Childress Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings 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 worth $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Apple by 3.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Apple by 13.4% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,214,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,359,409 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following 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 through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $252.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.48, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $237.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $227.89.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Moffett Nathanson dropped their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.