Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Axiom Advisory LLC

Axiom Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 541,915 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 65,325 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.1% of Axiom Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Axiom Advisory LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $120,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Apple by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 7.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,887 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,061,296,000 after buying an additional 485,873 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

AAPL opened at $229.87 on Monday. 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 $3.47 trillion, a PE 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $227.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $218.30.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus 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.