Retirement Planning Group LLC Acquires 22,532 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Retirement Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 22.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,681 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,532 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.6% of Retirement Planning Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Retirement Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $29,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson cut their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $237.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.81. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $229.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $220.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.