American Financial & Tax Strategies Inc. Acquires 55 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

American Financial & Tax Strategies Inc. raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,129 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. American Financial & Tax Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the first quarter worth about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities boosted 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. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.23.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $222.91 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $227.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.93, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49.

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 $1.49 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.6 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.22%.

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.