Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 341,617 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,749 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.7% of Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $79,597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.2% during 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 period. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,768,000 after buying an additional 19,670 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $253.48 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $233.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $224.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $253.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.69, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders 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 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.