Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Boosted by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 95,235 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.3% of EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $406,099,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC boosted its position in Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Moffett Nathanson started coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price objective on the stock. Maxim Group raised their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $225.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.60. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512. 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.