Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,202 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 6,756 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 4.3% of Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $17,079,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 7.6% in the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 73,945 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $17,229,000 after buying an additional 5,231 shares in the last quarter. SMART Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.6% in the third quarter. SMART Wealth LLC now owns 14,580 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,397,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. SK Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at $3,304,000. Penney Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the third quarter. Penney Financial LLC now owns 7,852 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,829,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 11,509 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,882,000 after buying an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Scotiabank lowered shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $2.78 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $195.64. 38,432,354 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 54,632,716. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $202.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $222.66. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.