Apple Inc. $AAPL is Castleview Partners LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• Castleview Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. by 65.1%, making the tech giant its second-largest position in the portfolio, holding 34,223 shares valued at approximately $7 million.
• Recent analyst ratings on Apple vary, with price targets ranging from $200 to $305, indicating a range of perspectives on the stock's future performance, resulting in an average target price of $248.29.
• Insider transactions revealed significant stock sales by both SVP Deirdre O'Brien and CEO Timothy D. Cook, with combined sales totaling over $44 million, which reflected decreases in their ownership levels.

Castleview Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 65.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,223 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 13,500 shares during the period. Apple makes up 4.5% of Castleview Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Castleview Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $7,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,260,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Salus Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 3.9% in the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Sharpepoint LLC lifted its position in Apple by 3.5% in the first quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.3% in the first quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $892,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its position in Apple by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Phillip Securities cut Apple from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Apple in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $248.29.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 43,013 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $258.06 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $235.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.16, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.

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