Wedmont Private Capital Has $50.88 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 229,507 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 24,928 shares during the period. Apple makes up 2.9% of Wedmont Private Capital’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Apple were worth $50,879,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory grew its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Lowery Thomas LLC raised its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.1% during the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $949,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $235.06 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $228.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.01. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.