Evergreen Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Evergreen Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 14,366 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,549 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.0% of Evergreen Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Heritage Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 22.3% in the third quarter. Heritage Investment Group Inc. now owns 21,443 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,996,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905 shares during the period. RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,248,000. Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 32,444 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,250,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the period. Paragon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 5.5% during the third quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 7,128 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,661,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 7,192,453 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,675,842,000 after acquiring an additional 870,556 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $253.00 price objective (down from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Raymond James increased their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.05.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value 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 $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.4 %

AAPL stock opened at $222.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.72. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Apple Company 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.