Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Prosperitas Financial LLC’s Largest Position

Prosperitas Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,491 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 6.1% of Prosperitas Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Prosperitas Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,749 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,573,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Empire Life Investments Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 16.3% in the third quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. now owns 105,173 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $24,505,000 after buying an additional 14,774 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 83,575 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $19,473,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Cardinal Strategic Wealth Guidance grew its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cardinal Strategic Wealth Guidance now owns 15,132 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,526,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allen Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,868 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,532,000 after acquiring an additional 537 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group upped their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.03.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $243.36 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $238.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.08. 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 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple 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.