Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Pillar Wealth Advisors LLC

Pillar Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,077 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 0.8% of Pillar Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Pillar Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. St. James Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 98.3% during the 4th quarter. St. James Investment Advisors LLC now owns 236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC lifted its stake in Apple by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $93,000. Finally, Sonnipe Ltd acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $104,000. 58.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total value of $2,753,216.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,363,619.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $189.46 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.17 and a 1-year high of $198.23. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Apple had a net margin of 24.68% and a return on equity of 164.92%. The business had revenue of $81.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 14th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. 58.com reaffirmed a “maintains” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, June 5th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, August 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.86.

About Apple

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.