Verity & Verity LLC Buys 1,213 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Verity & Verity LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 119,973 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,213 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.7% of Verity & Verity LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $27,954,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 264,696 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $61,674,000 after purchasing an additional 32,818 shares during the period. Vertex Planning Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.4% in the third quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC now owns 90,365 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,055,000 after purchasing an additional 5,421 shares in the last quarter. Schwallier Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the third quarter. Schwallier Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,676 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $624,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.3% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 442,710 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $103,151,000 after buying an additional 18,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at $288,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $229.82 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $240.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.68. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Maxim Group increased their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $253.00 target price (down previously from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.05.

Apple Company 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.