Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Acquires 82,164 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 843,938 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 82,164 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 0.8% of Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $177,750,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory lifted its holdings in Apple by 3.8% during the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.1% during the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $226.96 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $226.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $214.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.51.

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.