Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Narwhal Capital Management

Narwhal Capital Management raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 276,791 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,711 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 5.8% of Narwhal Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Narwhal Capital Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $64,492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised 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 buying an additional 126,210 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its stake in Apple by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,768,000 after acquiring an additional 19,670 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays dropped their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Apple Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $249.79 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $254.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $234.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $225.06. The firm has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.08, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.