Bennett Associates Wealth Management Purchases Shares of 1,535 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bennett Associates Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,535 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $384,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Up 1.9 %

AAPL stock opened at $241.76 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $239.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Loop Capital cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Argus raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.