Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. Purchases 1,044 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,453 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.9% of Yeomans Consulting Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Lowery Thomas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on AAPL. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $255.59 on Friday. The company has a market cap 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $237.41 and a 200-day moving average of $227.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Apple 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.