SFG Wealth Management LLC. Increases Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

SFG Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,727 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 1.7% of SFG Wealth Management LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. SFG Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Capital Performance Advisors LLP boosted its stake in Apple by 4.2% during the third quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 66,025 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $15,384,000 after buying an additional 2,636 shares during the last quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 197.8% during the 3rd quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC now owns 21,018 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,897,000 after acquiring an additional 13,960 shares in the last quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. now owns 33,386 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,779,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.5% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 173,990 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,540,000 after purchasing an additional 2,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bensler LLC increased its position in Apple by 2.1% in the third quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 132,548 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $30,884,000 after purchasing an additional 2,768 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $234.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $240.43 and its 200 day moving average is $230.36.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % 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.

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.