MBE Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

MBE Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,851 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 0.5% of MBE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. MBE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Ryan Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth about $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Phillip Securities cut Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. CLSA raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.29.

Apple Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $254.04 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $236.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $215.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 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.