Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. Boosts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Apple makes up 0.4% of Grunden Financial Advisory Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Grunden Financial Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bellwether Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 387.3% during the second quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares during the period. Gentry Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at $876,000. WT Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at $80,057,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Apple by 10.3% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,745,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,526,874,000 after buying an additional 1,557,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Councilmark Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at $11,776,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective (up previously from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.23.

Apple Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.91 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49. The company’s 50 day moving average is $227.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 145.09%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 417,924 shares of company stock worth $94,142,399 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.