Verde Capital Management Buys 2,954 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Verde Capital Management lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 83.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares during the period. Verde Capital Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 5.2% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after acquiring an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its holdings in Apple by 15.2% during the third quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,768,000 after acquiring an additional 19,670 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $248.13 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $250.80. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $232.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $223.41. 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 cap of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 29th. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.