Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Raises Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,245 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 2,575 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 2.6% of Great Lakes Retirement Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $20,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tanager Wealth Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP now owns 90,642 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $21,120,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in 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 worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Axecap Investments LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,618,000. Heartland Bank & Trust Co grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 51,019 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $11,887,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McAdam LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 78,385 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $18,264,000 after buying an additional 4,883 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.9 %

AAPL stock traded up $4.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $254.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 145,580,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,671,145. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $255.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The business's 50 day moving average price is $234.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $225.70. The company has a market cap 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.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business 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 was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

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.