Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Acquired by USA Financial Formulas

USA Financial Formulas lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 24,100.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,230 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 0.3% of USA Financial Formulas’ portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. USA Financial Formulas’ holdings in Apple were worth $1,692,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Smart Money Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 28.5% in the first quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 6,309 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 674,326 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $115,633,000 after purchasing an additional 44,374 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA increased its holdings in Apple by 5.8% in the first quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 29,400 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,041,000 after buying an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patron Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 48,158 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,258,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned 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, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following 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. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $235.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $228.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $219.01. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Apple Company 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.