tru Independence LLC Acquires 1,007 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

tru Independence LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,281 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.5% of tru Independence LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. tru Independence LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.7% during the third quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 59,192 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,792,000 after buying an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 194,502 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $45,319,000 after acquiring an additional 9,738 shares during the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 22.0% in the third quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 368,336 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $85,822,000 after purchasing an additional 66,351 shares during the period. Core Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Core Wealth Partners LLC now owns 67,870 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,814,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 15.8% during the third quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 228,659 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $53,277,000 after purchasing an additional 31,175 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush lifted their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $184.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $229.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $241.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its 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. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company 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 currently 16.45%.

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.