Boltwood Capital Management Acquires 1,381 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Boltwood Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 37,027 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,381 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 2.6% of Boltwood Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Boltwood Capital Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 18,947 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,415,000 after acquiring an additional 594 shares during the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 62,490 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,560,000 after acquiring an additional 2,769 shares in the last quarter. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 15.5% in the third quarter. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. now owns 17,534 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,085,000 after buying an additional 2,356 shares during the last quarter. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 2.9% in the third quarter. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. now owns 30,477 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,101,000 after purchasing an additional 849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Doliver Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Apple by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 25,930 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,042,000 after acquiring an additional 1,094 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple Trading Up 0.1 %

Apple stock opened at $228.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $227.34 and a 200-day moving average of $217.31. The company has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company 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.