Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Wright Investors Service Inc.’s 2nd Largest Position

Wright Investors Service Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,347 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 5,841 shares during the period. Apple makes up 5.3% of Wright Investors Service Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $20,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the first quarter valued at about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% during 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 during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $206,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 0.2 %

AAPL opened at $228.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $227.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $217.47. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

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.