CWA Asset Management Group LLC Takes $118.91 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 510,355 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $118,913,000. Apple makes up 6.3% of CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Equitable Trust Co. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 218,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $51,007,000 after buying an additional 928 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its position in shares of Apple by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 2,484,524 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $578,869,000 after acquiring an additional 104,457 shares during the last quarter. Source Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Source Financial Advisors LLC now owns 19,237 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,482,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Beckerman Institutional LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth $1,380,000. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 7.8% during the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 259,265 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,409,000 after purchasing an additional 18,861 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.5 %

AAPL opened at $233.28 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $240.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.52. 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 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.37, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

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.