Beacon Financial Planning Inc. Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Beacon Financial Planning Inc. raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,643 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 0.6% of Beacon Financial Planning Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Beacon Financial Planning Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Spectrum Planning & Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 41.1% during the 2nd quarter. Spectrum Planning & Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,543 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $932,000 after buying an additional 1,323 shares during the period. Harrell Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 109,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,531,000 after buying an additional 4,600 shares during the period. Missouri Trust & Investment Co raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 138,501 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $28,416,000 after buying an additional 3,560 shares during the period. Signal Tree Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,266,000. Finally, Total Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Total Wealth Planning LLC now owns 5,233 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $205.82 to $205.16 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Wedbush set a $310.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $266.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.49.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $256.48 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.92, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $234.84 and a 200-day moving average of $215.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Company 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.