Capital Wealth Planning LLC Purchases 525,706 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,191,814 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 525,706 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.9% of Capital Wealth Planning LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Capital Wealth Planning LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $461,640,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP grew its holdings in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. New Street Research restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Cfra increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $236.23.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company's stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $3.00 during trading on Friday, reaching $222.91. 65,276,741 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,031,312. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $227.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $212.64.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 145.09% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.