Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by Whelan Financial

Whelan Financial grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,545 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 745 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.1% of Whelan Financial’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Whelan Financial’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 5.2% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after acquiring an additional 95,235 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Down 0.7 %

Apple stock opened at $250.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $238.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $228.58. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

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 the consensus estimate 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 business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price target on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.47.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 163,435 shares of company stock worth $39,376,002. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.