Powers Advisory Group LLC Has $2.49 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Powers Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,682 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 1.2% of Powers Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Powers Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the 2nd 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, Latitude Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $248.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $250.80. The business has a 50-day moving average of $232.50 and a 200 day moving average of $223.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results 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. 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%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Moffett Nathanson dropped their price objective on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

About Apple

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.