Gill Capital Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Gill Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 34.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,589 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 4,254 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.5% of Gill Capital Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Gill Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $4,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. CGN Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 64,021 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $16,032,000 after acquiring an additional 4,161 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 141,272 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $35,377,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD. boosted its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 134,741 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $33,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 125,604 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $31,454,000 after purchasing an additional 5,631 shares during the period. Finally, Spring Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Spring Capital Management LLC now owns 64,825 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $16,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,046 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a "sell" rating and set a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $243.88.

Apple Stock Down 0.1 %

Apple stock traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $235.74. The stock had a trading volume of 47,184,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,560,264. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.08 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $238.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.