Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Boosted by Walker Financial Services Inc.

Walker Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,903 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 0.5% of Walker Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Walker Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Freestate Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $920,000. Ferguson Shapiro LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ferguson Shapiro LLC now owns 20,943 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Apple by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co now owns 28,333 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,601,000 after purchasing an additional 3,259 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 69,485 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JGP Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 219,895 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $51,235,000 after purchasing an additional 10,945 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $237.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.81.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $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.