Coston McIsaac & Partners Increases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Coston McIsaac & Partners grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 61,888 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 2,040 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 4.1% of Coston McIsaac & Partners' portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Coston McIsaac & Partners' holdings in Apple were worth $14,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $834,368,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Finally, Tairen Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth approximately $588,952,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was 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 owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Maxim Group upped their price target on shares of 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 reissued a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL traded up $4.70 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $254.49. 145,580,875 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 57,671,145. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $255.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $234.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $225.70. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Apple's revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.