Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Purchased by GoalVest Advisory LLC

GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 908 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.7% of GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC grew its holdings in Apple by 333.3% during the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Apple during the first quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. CLSA upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Finally, Melius raised their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.22.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,030.54. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.4%

Apple stock opened at $278.63 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $280.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $4.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $263.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $231.59.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.