Kowal Investment Group LLC Has $11.49 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kowal Investment Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 49,326 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,862 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 2.1% of Kowal Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Kowal Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its holdings in 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 during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $242.84 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $230.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.83. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $244.63. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.94, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. 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 earnings per share 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 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 firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.