Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Increases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,475,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 92,821 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 0.7% of Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $732,062,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,239,346 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $471,651,000 after purchasing an additional 232,933 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $52,669,000. Copperwynd Financial LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 29.9% during the second quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 41,537 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,225,000 after acquiring an additional 9,572 shares during the period. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC raised its position in Apple by 762.2% in the second quarter. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 52,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,156,000 after acquiring an additional 46,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearline Capital LP lifted its holdings in Apple by 726.7% in the second quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 149,345 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $31,455,000 after acquiring an additional 131,279 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on Apple in a report on Monday, August 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $225.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $226.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.60.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.