Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Increased by Crumly & Associates Inc.

Crumly & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,594 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 1.3% of Crumly & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Crumly & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Windward Capital Management Co. CA grew its stake in Apple by 4.9% in the third quarter. Windward Capital Management Co. CA now owns 1,024,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $238,643,000 after purchasing an additional 48,284 shares in the last quarter. Provident Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 29,700 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,920,000 after buying an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 5,561 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Holistic Planning LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 6.4% in the third quarter. Holistic Planning LLC now owns 15,052 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,507,000 after buying an additional 903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $118,913,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Maxim Group increased their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.85.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $233.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $240.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.52. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued 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 yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents 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.