Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by Sterling Manor Financial LLC

Sterling Manor Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,593 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.1% of Sterling Manor Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Sterling Manor Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,167,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 144,042 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,562,000 after acquiring an additional 3,312 shares in the last quarter. TCP Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.9% during the third quarter. TCP Asset Management LLC now owns 9,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,285,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.4% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 78,496 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $18,290,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547 shares in the last quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 11.1% in the third quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 10,453 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the period. Finally, Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.4% in the third quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. now owns 41,350 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,635,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.47.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

AAPL opened at $255.59 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $237.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $227.79. 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 company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. Company 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.