Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC Raises Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,986 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 0.8% of Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $629,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 17.9% in 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. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter worth about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Maxim Group increased their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.51.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $225.00 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $215.96. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.