Berry Wealth Group LP Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Berry Wealth Group LP grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,903 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 597 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 6.8% of Berry Wealth Group LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Berry Wealth Group LP’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,530,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 5.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 95,235 shares during the period. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its stake in Apple by 15.2% in the third quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,768,000 after buying an additional 19,670 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the 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 owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Maxim Group upped their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Apple Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $251.04 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $251.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $233.09 and its 200-day moving average is $224.30. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.