Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Holdings Boosted by GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.

GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 314,217 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,156 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 3.4% of GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $64,468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $99,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.22.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $268.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.74, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $224.71. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $277.32.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.64 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 224,300 shares of company stock worth $57,586,933 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.