Leading Edge Financial Planning LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Leading Edge Financial Planning LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,640 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Leading Edge Financial Planning LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 4.7% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 53,630 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,496,000 after acquiring an additional 2,420 shares in the last quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 52,833 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,767 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Advisors Inc. now owns 40,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,346,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Bank OH boosted its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 32,924 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,671,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rogco LP grew its position in Apple by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rogco LP now owns 21,288 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,960,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the 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 owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $254.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $255.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $234.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $225.70. The stock has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.39%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.