Powers Advisory Group LLC Grows Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Powers Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,682 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 1.2% of Powers Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Powers Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in Apple by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after buying an additional 2,474,887 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Apple by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its position in Apple by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,214,222,000 after buying an additional 2,359,409 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $248.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $232.50 and its 200 day moving average is $223.41. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $250.80.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

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.