Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC Grows Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 62.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,136 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,804 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 0.9% of Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Boston Common Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 9.5% in the second quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 203,435 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,847,000 after purchasing an additional 17,617 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,701,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $208,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 5,126.6% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 67,684 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,671,000 after acquiring an additional 66,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BancFirst Trust & Investment Management increased its holdings in Apple by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 2,048 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $439,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $258.20 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $258.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.47, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $226.34.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple 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.