Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC Buys 107 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,484 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 0.9% of Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at $206,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Up 1.1 %

Apple stock opened at $258.20 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $258.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $235.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.34. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.47, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, 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 have sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

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.