Capital Wealth Alliance LLC Buys 53 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capital Wealth Alliance LLC grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,457 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Alliance LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. State Street Corp grew its stake in Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Argus raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $170.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $240.26.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $198.15 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.08 and a 52-week 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 stock has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $222.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $231.16.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.