TRU Independence Asset Management 2 LLC Makes New $1.99 Million Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

TRU Independence Asset Management 2 LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 8,519 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,985,000. Apple accounts for about 1.7% of TRU Independence Asset Management 2 LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 252.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% during 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 last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. increased its stake 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $229.98 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.56. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.