Old North State Wealth Management LLC Has $6.42 Million Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Old North State Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,244 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,936 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.3% of Old North State Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Old North State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly 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 valued at $64,320,190 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 1.6%

AAPL stock opened at $254.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $236.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $215.77.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.29.

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.