Fortis Group Advisors LLC Has $16.24 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fortis Group Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,696 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,339 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.0% of Fortis Group Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Fortis Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring 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. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Up 1.0 %

AAPL stock opened at $253.48 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $233.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $224.73. The company has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $253.83. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.