43,244 Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Bought by InvesTrust

InvesTrust purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 43,244 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $10,877,000. Apple comprises about 3.0% of InvesTrust’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in 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 last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at $77,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $244.47 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $231.94. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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%. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. 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 (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

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.