Wealthquest Corp Acquires 457 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wealthquest Corp boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,732 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 457 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.0% of Wealthquest Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Wealthquest Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 value 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. KeyCorp restated an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $244.60 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $231.41.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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.