Kelly Financial Services LLC Boosts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kelly Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,147 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.5% of Kelly Financial Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Kelly Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its position in Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $206,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. Finally, SMH Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $209,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $234.93 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $228.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $219.12. 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 $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company 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%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays reduced their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 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 sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last ninety days. 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.