West Oak Capital LLC Buys 1,888 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

West Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,558 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,888 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.2% of West Oak Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,654,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares during the period. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its holdings in Apple by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,768,000 after purchasing an additional 19,670 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.5 %

AAPL stock opened at $246.49 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $231.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $250.80.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share 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 firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Maxim Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.