Delta Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Delta Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 448,210 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,217 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 38.8% of Delta Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Delta Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $104,433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Verus Financial Partners Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 2nd 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. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. raised its position in Apple by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $949,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $228.28 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $227.34 and a 200 day moving average 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 announced its 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 the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Moffett Nathanson cut their price target on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.25.

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.