Elevate Capital Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 20,083 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Elevate Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 20,083 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $5,029,000. Apple accounts for approximately 4.4% of Elevate Capital Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd 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. State Street Corp grew its stake in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 25,285.2% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,411,260,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590,933 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the company from $202.33 to $167.88 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.85.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded down $5.56 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $196.58. The company had a trading volume of 9,075,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 59,900,188. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.