Meridian Wealth Partners LLC Has $8.26 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Meridian Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,235 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.5% of Meridian Wealth Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Bellwether Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 387.3% in the second quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares during the period. Gentry Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $876,000. WT Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $80,057,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Apple by 10.3% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,745,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,526,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557,848 shares during the period. Finally, Councilmark Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the first quarter worth $11,776,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 417,924 shares of company stock valued at $94,142,399. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $223.45 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $226.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $213.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.