Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 130,860 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 747,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 130,860 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 2.6% of Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $174,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its position in Apple by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares in the last quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,103 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,120 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,417,000. GFG Capital LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. GFG Capital LLC now owns 113,656 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $23,938,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hall Laurie J Trustee increased its stake in Apple by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee now owns 60,797 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,805,000 after buying an additional 686 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.98 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $241.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.72. 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 one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company 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 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. 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 note on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

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.