J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Has $132.09 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 566,896 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,729 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 5.5% of J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $132,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $206,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on AAPL shares. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.47.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $259.02 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.60, 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $237.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.21.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business 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 company earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued 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 dividend yield of 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.