Wright Investors Service Inc. Has $20.35 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 87,347 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 5,841 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 5.3% of Wright Investors Service Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $20,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory raised its holdings in Apple by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 1.1% in 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.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $228.44 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.57, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $227.59 and its 200 day moving average is $217.47. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was 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 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 quarter, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price target on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

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.