PDS Planning Inc Has $23.21 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

PDS Planning Inc grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,602 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 2.1% of PDS Planning Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management lifted its stake in Apple by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Loop Capital cut their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $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. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $242.21 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $239.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $229.57.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.