Vertex Planning Partners LLC Buys 5,421 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vertex Planning Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 90,365 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,421 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 5.0% of Vertex Planning Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Vertex Planning Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $21,055,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.05.

Apple Stock Up 3.2 %

AAPL stock opened at $229.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $240.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.68. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This 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 currently owned by insiders.

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.