Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Acquired by MRA Advisory Group

MRA Advisory Group lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,619 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,771 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 2.9% of MRA Advisory Group’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. MRA Advisory Group’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% in 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 during the period. Core Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $949,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $229.00 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $227.47 and its 200 day moving average is $217.40. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

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.