Atwood & Palmer Inc. Buys 932 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 128,776 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 932 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 2.0% of Atwood & Palmer Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Atwood & Palmer Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $30,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its position in Apple by 7.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,369,852,000 after buying an additional 2,474,887 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,759 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,061,296,000 after acquiring an additional 485,873 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.87 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.81, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $227.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $218.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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.