Walker Financial Services Inc. Purchases 171 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Walker Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,903 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Apple comprises 0.5% of Walker Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Walker Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at 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. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $237.33 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $229.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $219.59. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.03, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s 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. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.