Massachusetts Wealth Management Buys 909 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Massachusetts Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 23,327 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 909 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 3.4% of Massachusetts Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Massachusetts Wealth Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $206,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.1 %

AAPL opened at $258.20 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $235.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.34. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $258.21. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued 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 was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

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.