Leverty Financial Group LLC Has $840,000 Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Leverty Financial Group LLC increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,330 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 0.6% of Leverty Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Leverty Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Center For Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 53.3% during the second quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 21,898 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,247,000 after purchasing an additional 7,616 shares during the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Apple by 8.3% in the first quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 785,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $129,447,000 after acquiring an additional 60,000 shares during the last quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the first quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,680 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,399,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Apple by 2.3% in the first quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,919,534 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $646,332,000 after purchasing an additional 89,615 shares during the period. Finally, My Personal CFO LLC lifted its position in Apple by 4.1% in the second quarter. My Personal CFO LLC now owns 26,276 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,097,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 65,536 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.11, for a total transaction of $11,279,400.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares in the company, valued at $23,483,548.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 69,785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.00, for a total transaction of $12,351,945.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,697,609. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 65,536 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.11, for a total transaction of $11,279,400.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,483,548.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 439,585 shares of company stock valued at $76,485,550 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 30th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Apple from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Credit Suisse Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, September 15th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, November 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.82.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $179.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $176.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $179.55. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.17 and a 1 year high of $198.23. The company has a market cap of $2.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.29, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.30.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $89.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.34 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.68% and a return on equity of 164.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 13th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.69%.

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.