Calton & Associates Inc. Buys 11,794 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Calton & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,118 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,794 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 4.7% of Calton & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Calton & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after buying an additional 95,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its stake in Apple by 15.2% in the third quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,768,000 after buying an additional 19,670 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Maxim Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays dropped their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Apple Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $253.48 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.69, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $253.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $233.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $224.73. 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction 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 approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.