Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. Raises Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,205 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 585 shares during the period. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,572,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. M3 Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,339,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,428,000. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,665 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,208,000 after buying an additional 1,557 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Advisors purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. Finally, Cooksen Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $706,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $261.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Maxim Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $203.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.27.

Apple Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $231.78 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $225.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $207.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

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.