Stewardship Advisors LLC Acquires 1,708 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Stewardship Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 24.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,789 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,708 shares during the period. Stewardship Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,048,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 34.3% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple during the second quarter valued at about $206,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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 has a 50 day moving average of $233.09 and a 200 day moving average of $224.30. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.29, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors 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 presently 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Bank of America upped their price target on Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.