Sound Stewardship LLC Raises Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sound Stewardship LLC increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,166 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Sound Stewardship LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in Apple by 88.9% during the third 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. raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.47.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 $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 available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $255.59 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.79. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.04, a PEG 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 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.