Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 4,908 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 72,384 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 4,908 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 1.8% of Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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 worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in 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. Cordant Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $246.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $231.24 and a 200 day moving average of $222.66. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $250.80.

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. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Maxim Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was 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 valued at $92,007,745 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.