Wealth Quarterback LLC Raises Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wealth Quarterback LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,965 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 4.2% of Wealth Quarterback LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Wealth Quarterback LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lantz Financial LLC grew its stake in Apple by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. Sinecera Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Sinecera Capital LLC now owns 9,946 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,095,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Raelipskie Partnership grew its holdings in Apple by 1.5% during the second quarter. Raelipskie Partnership now owns 22,899 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,823,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. Compton Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Compton Financial Group LLC now owns 5,446 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 45,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,567,000 after purchasing an additional 5,759 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’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 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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $233.28 on Wednesday. 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 has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.37, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $240.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $230.52. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

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.