Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. Purchases 1,132 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 205,599 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 5.2% of Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $47,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its position in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $206,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $208,000. Finally, SMH Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $234.93 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $228.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $219.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. The company has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 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 represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Moffett Nathanson dropped their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

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.