Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Acquires 82,622 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 43.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 274,881 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 82,622 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $56,397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. boosted its holdings in Apple by 13.2% in the second quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $729,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,772,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust grew its position in Apple by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,107,000 after purchasing an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 5,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 209.2% during the first quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,507,000 after buying an additional 4,591 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $203.07 to $246.99 in a report on Friday, October 31st. Bank of America raised their target price on Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Melius upped their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.51.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,030.54. This trade represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $278.28 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $268.24 and a 200 day moving average of $237.03. The company has a market capitalization of $4.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.25, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $288.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

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.