GGM Financials LLC Has $1.71 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

GGM Financials LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,324 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.5% of GGM Financials LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. GGM Financials LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,707,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted 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 valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management boosted its position in Apple by 7.3% during the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $236.85 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The business’s fifty day moving average is $240.18 and its 200-day moving average is $230.10. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.96, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.