Global Wealth Strategies & Associates Raises Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,671 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 0.8% of Global Wealth Strategies & Associates’ portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates’ holdings in Apple were worth $2,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $206,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group increased their target price on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $228.02 on Tuesday. 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 $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.00.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business 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 (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

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.