Kieckhefer Group LLC Takes $930,000 Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,712 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $930,000. Apple makes up approximately 0.6% of Kieckhefer Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in 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 during the period. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Maxim Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $245.83 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $240.52 and a 200-day moving average of $232.29.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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