John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,720 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 42.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 299,829 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,993,000 after buying an additional 89,865 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 74,619 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,029,000 after buying an additional 5,703 shares during the period. Emerald Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 19,905 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,721,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 35.7% during the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 25,608 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,501,000 after buying an additional 6,735 shares during the period. Finally, Callan Capital LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 85,226 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,652,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322 shares during the last quarter. 57.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Apple from $170.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday. Wedbush cut their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Apple from $177.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 8th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Apple from $160.00 to $154.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, November 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.93.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 176,299 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.95, for a total transaction of $27,493,829.05. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 110,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,259,454.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 176,299 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.95, for a total transaction of $27,493,829.05. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 110,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,259,454.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 20,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.72, for a total value of $3,004,144.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,505 shares in the company, valued at $4,685,423.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 204,552 shares of company stock worth $31,645,123 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $133.49 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $124.17 and a 52-week high of $179.61. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $139.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $148.33.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 27th. The iPhone maker reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.90% and a net margin of 25.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.19 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 7th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 4th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.06%.

About Apple

(Get Rating)

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. It also sells various related services. In addition, 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.