Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Holdings Increased by Meritas Wealth Management LLC

Meritas Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,854 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 273 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 6.0% of Meritas Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Meritas Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory raised its position in Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Core Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $949,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $228.28 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $227.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $217.31. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Maxim Group raised their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

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.