Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by Mayfair Advisory Group LLC

Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 30,390 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 4.3% of Mayfair Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,892,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burford Brothers Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. now owns 72,936 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,994,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 40,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,443,000 after buying an additional 1,782 shares during the period. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 62.2% in the third quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 15,136 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,527,000 after acquiring an additional 5,804 shares during the last quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc grew its position in Apple by 2.3% in the third quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc now owns 35,940 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,374,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares during the period. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC increased its stake in Apple by 3.6% during the third quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 407,584 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $94,967,000 after acquiring an additional 14,118 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Moffett Nathanson dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $258.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $235.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $226.34. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $258.21. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Apple Company Profile

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.