WJ Interests LLC Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

WJ Interests LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,140 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000. Apple makes up about 0.1% of WJ Interests LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 761,774 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $130,629,000 after buying an additional 17,519 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,464,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $422,527,000 after acquiring an additional 220,502 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 939,572 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $159,755,000 after acquiring an additional 20,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 138,900 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $23,819,000 after acquiring an additional 1,977 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 29th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $251.04 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $233.09 and its 200-day moving average is $224.30. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.29, a PEG 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $251.38.

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 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.