Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 278,784 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,171 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 4.0% of Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $64,957,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 34.3% during 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. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.05.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $229.82 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day moving average is $240.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

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. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.