Pathway Financial Advisors LLC Has $5.02 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Pathway Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 21,556 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 313 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.3% of Pathway Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,023,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $206,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. Finally, SMH Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth $209,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Maxim Group boosted their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $232.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $228.06 and a 200-day moving average of $218.64.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.