Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Lifted by Souders Financial Advisors

Souders Financial Advisors boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 77,003 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,283 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.4% of Souders Financial Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Souders Financial Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $16,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the first quarter worth approximately $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP increased its position in Apple by 6.7% in 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. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth $208,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $225.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.96.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

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.