PYA Waltman Capital LLC Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

PYA Waltman Capital LLC grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,813 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,827 shares during the quarter. PYA Waltman Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geller Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 4.3% in the third quarter. Geller Advisors LLC now owns 66,022 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,383,000 after acquiring an additional 2,723 shares during the last quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.8% in the third quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC now owns 64,020 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,917,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. Hamilton Capital LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 15.6% in the third quarter. Hamilton Capital LLC now owns 30,938 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,989,000 after acquiring an additional 4,175 shares during the last quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter worth approximately $9,269,000. Finally, EWA LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 18.8% in the third quarter. EWA LLC now owns 25,606 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,844,000 after acquiring an additional 4,044 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $232.62 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company’s fifty day moving average is $241.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.87%.

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.