West Wealth Group LLC Has $11.07 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

West Wealth Group LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 47,507 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 301 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 3.6% of West Wealth Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. West Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,069,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Apple Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $258.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $235.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $226.34. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $258.21.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % 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, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.