Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC

Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,643 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 0.4% of Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 158.3% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after purchasing an additional 7,067,379 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 161.2% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after acquiring an additional 5,405,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $834,368,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $228.28 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $227.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.31. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

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.