Cottage Street Advisors LLC Buys 60,233 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cottage Street Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 120.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 110,306 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 60,233 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 11.7% of Cottage Street Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Cottage Street Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $24,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $82,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $96,000. Finally, Collier Financial acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $140,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.25.

Apple Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of AAPL traded down $4.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $202.95. 46,370,982 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,587,043. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $213.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

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.