GM Advisory Group LLC Buys 2,267 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

GM Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 208,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,267 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.9% of GM Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. GM Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $48,536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $236.00 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.86. 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 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.82, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.34 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

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.