Smith Salley Wealth Management Acquires 32,810 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Smith Salley Wealth Management raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 390,796 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 32,810 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 6.0% of Smith Salley Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $91,056,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bristlecone Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 217,230 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $50,614,000 after purchasing an additional 7,205 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 890,979 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $207,598,000 after buying an additional 4,312 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $524,000. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.1% in the third quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 57,093 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,303,000 after buying an additional 1,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 22,870.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after acquiring an additional 5,566,250 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.47.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $259.02 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $237.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $227.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.60, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.