Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by Exchange Traded Concepts LLC

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 404,599 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 33,082 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.2% of Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $94,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory grew its stake in Apple by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Lowery Thomas LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value 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 trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities 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 report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two research 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 given 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 a consensus target price of $235.68.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $237.33 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $229.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $220.02. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.03, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.81.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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 analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders 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 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio 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.