Latitude Advisors LLC Has $4.02 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Latitude Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.3% of Latitude Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Latitude Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory grew its position in Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $243.36 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $238.91 and a 200 day moving average of $229.08. 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 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.03, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted 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. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.