Weaver Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Weaver Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,225 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,051 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.6% of Weaver Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Weaver Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Edge Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 10.9% during the second quarter. Edge Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30,334 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,973 shares in the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 93.5% during the second quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 133,850 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,449,000 after purchasing an additional 64,681 shares in the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC now owns 22,018 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Advisors Northwest LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Advisors Northwest LLC now owns 8,440 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copperwynd Financial LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 61,907 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,701,000 after buying an additional 10,955 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Apple from $279.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $203.07 to $246.99 in a report on Friday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.52.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $269.05 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $249.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $222.85. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $277.32. The firm has a market cap of $3.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.83, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.92%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,373.35. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.