Principal Securities Inc. Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 202,881 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,439 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.1% of Principal Securities Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $47,271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at about $206,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.47.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $243.85 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $238.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $228.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given 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 dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

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.