Motive Wealth Advisors Raises Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Motive Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,203 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,852 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 2.0% of Motive Wealth Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Motive Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $3,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth about $288,000. Truist Financial Corp grew 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 in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in Apple by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners increased its stake in Apple by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $59,122,000 after buying an additional 28,799 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Maxim Group lifted their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Apple to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.22.

Apple Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $213.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.89, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $234.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.77.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

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.