West Financial Advisors LLC Increases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

West Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 13,630 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 0.6% of West Financial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. West Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $208,000. Finally, SMH Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $209,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $235.06 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The stock has a market cap 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 fifty day moving average price of $228.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $219.01.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Company 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.