Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Acquired by JFS Wealth Advisors LLC

JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 140,049 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,637 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.2% of JFS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $32,631,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 20.9% during the third quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 63,923 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,751,000 after purchasing an additional 11,060 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 9.1% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 460,167 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $107,219,000 after buying an additional 38,467 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 13,984,461 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,258,379,000 after purchasing an additional 93,282 shares in the last quarter. Edge Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,424,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners lifted its position in Apple by 2.4% during the third quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 116,184 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,071,000 after buying an additional 2,751 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the 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 directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 163,435 shares of company stock valued at $39,376,002 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $250.42 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.19, 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 current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $238.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.43.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business 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 company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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 $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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 research note on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.47.

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.