Wallace Advisory Group LLC Acquires 1,855 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wallace Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,855 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.2% of Wallace Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Wallace Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter worth about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $225.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $226.96 and a 200-day moving average of $215.60. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Maxim Group raised their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.