Altus Wealth Management LLC Purchases 162 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Altus Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,405 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.9% of Altus Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Altus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 69.0% during the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 118.0% during the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 70.2% during the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 27.7% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $132,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. Citigroup cut their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies downgraded shares of Apple to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $220.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $173.03 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.57. The company has a market capitalization of $2.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.95%.

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.