Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Acquired by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 202,881 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,439 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.1% of Principal Securities Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $47,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson cut their price objective on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.47.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $243.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $238.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $228.58. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.