Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. Grows Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 75,663 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,929 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 2.8% of Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP grew 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 buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $208,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Cfra lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $226.96 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $214.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362. 0.06% of the stock is currently 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.