Prospera Private Wealth LLC Raises Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Prospera Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 257.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,202 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 39,744 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 2.4% of Prospera Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Prospera Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,862,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Yardley Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at $396,000. New Millennium Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 53,648 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,500,000 after buying an additional 1,653 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 45,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,653,000 after acquiring an additional 6,546 shares during the last quarter. Second Half Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter worth about $3,199,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter worth about $625,084,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price target (down from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was 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 owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Up 3.7 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $238.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $240.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.70.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.