Meridian Financial Partners LLC Purchases New Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Meridian Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 34,088 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $7,943,000. Apple comprises approximately 4.0% of Meridian Financial Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Apple by 7.1% in 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 buying an additional 2,474,887 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.4% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,214,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359,409 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $247.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $231.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $222.83. The company has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $250.80.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 29th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, November 25th. KeyCorp downgraded 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Two investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.