Great Waters Wealth Management Has $9.33 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Great Waters Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.2% of Great Waters Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Great Waters Wealth Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. O Connor Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,848,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 4.8 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $227.48 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.08 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.11, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $237.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $234.16.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $275.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Four 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.88.

About Apple

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.