McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. Buys 393 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,870 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 393 shares during the period. Apple makes up 5.5% of McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,731,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Apple from $280.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $244.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.80, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $240.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $231.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

About Apple

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.