Valued Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 429 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,933 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 429 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 0.6% of Valued Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after buying an additional 95,235 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 2.6 %

Apple stock opened at $243.85 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $238.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $228.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush boosted their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.47.

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.