Smith Anglin Financial LLC Increases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Smith Anglin Financial LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 109,383 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 2.5% of Smith Anglin Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Smith Anglin Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $25,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Apple by 127.4% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.9% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 128,418 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,021,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Services grew its holdings in Apple by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 96,257 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,506,000 after acquiring an additional 1,688 shares during the period. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 79,503 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,633,000 after acquiring an additional 12,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KFA Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 29,304 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % 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 worth $92,007,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price target 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

AAPL opened at $229.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.81, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $227.73 and its 200-day moving average is $217.81. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid 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 of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.