Echo Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Echo Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 32,153 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,968 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 5.2% of Echo Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Echo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,768,000 after purchasing an additional 19,670 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Apple Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $248.13 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $250.80. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $223.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid 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 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company 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.