Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL Purchases 4,675 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,462 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,675 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.1% of Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,700,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $244.60 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business’s 50-day moving average is $240.70 and its 200-day moving average is $231.59. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Loop Capital downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Apple from $273.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

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.