Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,643 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 0.4% of Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the second 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 stake in Apple in the second quarter worth $206,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.1 %

Apple stock opened at $228.28 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $227.34 and a 200-day moving average of $217.31. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of 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 objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.25.

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.