Benjamin Edwards Inc. Acquires 7,025 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 83,256 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,025 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 3.4% of Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 47,694 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,179,000 after buying an additional 6,796 shares during the period. Deltec Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC now owns 25,004 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,288,000 after purchasing an additional 3,875 shares during the period. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 31.3% in the first quarter. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,835 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,887,000 after acquiring an additional 4,018 shares in the last quarter. WJ Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 3.8% during the first quarter. WJ Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,480 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,483,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the period. Finally, Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 126,294 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,657,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,275. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $227.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $226.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $213.51. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

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.