Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Acquired by Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC

Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 72.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,136 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,337 shares during the period. Apple makes up 3.3% of Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,072,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners grew its holdings in Apple by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $59,122,000 after acquiring an additional 28,799 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.99.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’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 directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $223.83 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.82.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. 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.