Brown Financial Advisors Invests $4.41 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 20,915 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $4,405,000. Apple makes up about 2.0% of Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter worth approximately $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $206,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $225.00 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $227.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.61. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given 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 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

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.