Elm3 Financial Group LLC Purchases New Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Elm3 Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 17,621 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $4,413,000. Apple comprises 3.8% of Elm3 Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 21.1% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $787,631,000 after purchasing an additional 588,427 shares during the last quarter. Verum Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 24,199 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,638,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 9.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 254,357 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $59,265,000 after purchasing an additional 21,569 shares during the last quarter. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 100.2% in the third quarter. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC now owns 14,148 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,296,000 after purchasing an additional 7,081 shares during the period. Finally, Leisure Capital Management raised its position in Apple by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Leisure Capital Management now owns 81,242 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $18,929,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 7.3 %

AAPL opened at $188.38 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.08 and a twelve month high of $260.10. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $229.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Argus raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $245.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by 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.