Spire Wealth Management Has $79.37 Million Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Spire Wealth Management lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 22.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 387,871 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 112,369 shares during the period. Apple makes up 2.8% of Spire Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $79,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,790,933,000 after buying an additional 984,157 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird set a $300.00 target price on Apple in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, CLSA raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.22.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $278.63 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $263.27 and its 200-day moving average is $231.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $4.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $280.38.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 13.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total value of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,095,030.54. The trade was a 19.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 in the last ninety days. 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.