Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Raised by Greystone Financial Group LLC

Greystone Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 82,647 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 3.4% of Greystone Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Greystone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $19,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its holdings in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter valued at $206,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple Stock Up 1.9 %

AAPL stock opened at $254.49 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $255.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.86, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $234.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $225.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.