State of Wyoming Acquires 3,523 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

State of Wyoming raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,574 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,523 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.3% of State of Wyoming’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 98,917.0% during the second quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,106,000 after buying an additional 57,898,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 20,464.8% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,553,753,000 after buying an additional 26,937,401 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $300.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.51.

Apple Stock Up 0.1%

Apple stock opened at $278.28 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average is $268.24 and its 200-day moving average is $237.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,095,030.54. This trade represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple 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.