Shum Financial Group Inc. Buys Shares of 35,783 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Shum Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 35,783 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $7,996,000. Apple accounts for 6.7% of Shum Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 93.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 844,925 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $174,028,000 after purchasing an additional 409,134 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,731,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,628,397,000 after purchasing an additional 425,973 shares during the period. Lutz Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Lutz Financial Services LLC now owns 6,041 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,272,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 140,933 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $29,683,000 after purchasing an additional 7,223 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Chip Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC now owns 218,822 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $46,088,000 after purchasing an additional 4,640 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Maxim Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $228.01 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $241.68 and a 200 day moving average of $230.86. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.87%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.