Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Acquires 2,330 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,230 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,330 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 1.3% of Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. O Connor Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $896,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $235.74 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $238.36 and a 200 day moving average of $233.93. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.08 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Argus upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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.