Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s 6th Largest Position

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 243,299 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 934 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.1% of Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $56,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 252.3% during 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 period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, EMC Capital Management boosted its stake in Apple by 7.3% during the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Up 0.2 %

AAPL stock opened at $242.70 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $239.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.66. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.64.

Apple Company 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.