Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC Grows Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 474 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.9% of Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Register Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 20.6% in the second quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 40,023 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,212,000 after purchasing an additional 6,826 shares during the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 327,819 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $67,259,000 after purchasing an additional 4,443 shares during the period. Pacific Sage Partners LLC raised its stake in Apple by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Pacific Sage Partners LLC now owns 32,894 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,749,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Maridea Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,691 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,835,000 after acquiring an additional 3,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 47.6% in the 2nd quarter. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,861 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,639,000 after acquiring an additional 4,146 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, 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 transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wedbush set a $310.00 target price on Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Apple in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price target for the company. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.29.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $254.04 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $236.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.77. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.78%.

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.