Verity & Verity LLC Purchases 3,894 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Verity & Verity LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 115,785 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,894 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.8% of Verity & Verity LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 127.4% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 92,150 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,601,000 after buying an additional 781 shares during the period. Paragon Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 35.8% in the 1st quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 18,183 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,118,000 after buying an additional 4,793 shares during the last quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the first quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,998 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,115,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners raised its position in shares of Apple by 28.9% during the first quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 229,441 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,345,000 after acquiring an additional 51,428 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $225.00 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.61.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.