Alpha Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Alpha Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,827 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 292 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 0.3% of Alpha Financial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Alpha Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $659,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,768,000 after purchasing an additional 19,670 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.6 %

AAPL opened at $247.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $231.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $222.83. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $250.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.