Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. Buys Shares of 2,675 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,675 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $563,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 31,278 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % 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. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Maxim Group upped their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $225.00 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $227.04 and a 200-day moving average of $216.61. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. 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 twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

About Apple

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.