Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. Purchases 374 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 52,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 374 shares during the period. Apple makes up 5.6% of Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,166,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at 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 period. Cordant Inc. grew its position in Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Apple by 7.3% in the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $242.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $239.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $229.57.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of 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 research note on Monday, October 7th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.64.

About Apple

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.