Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Acquired by Harfst & Associates Inc.

Harfst & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 38,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 756 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.0% of Harfst & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Harfst & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Apple by 127.4% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares in the last quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 43,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,521,000 after purchasing an additional 2,090 shares during the last quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.6% during the first quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. now owns 15,216 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,609,000 after buying an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the first quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 308,396 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $52,884,000 after buying an additional 15,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the first quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 290,550 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $49,824,000 after buying an additional 4,798 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. 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. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $247.96 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $250.80. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $231.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $222.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

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.