Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Purchased by Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.1% of Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 573,627.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the first quarter worth $17,472,482,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in Apple by 27.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,870,795,000 after purchasing an additional 14,651,321 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. CLSA upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $253.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at $2,168,373.35. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $269.00 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $245.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $220.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a market cap of $3.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.82, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $269.89.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.