Brand Asset Management Group Inc. Purchases 626 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Brand Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,854 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the period. Brand Asset Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. increased its stake in Apple by 5.5% during the third quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,963,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC increased its stake in Apple by 13.6% during the third quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 172,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $29,589,000 after acquiring an additional 20,737 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in Apple by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,461,000 after acquiring an additional 10,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in Apple by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $829,240,000 after acquiring an additional 279,311 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.2 %

AAPL opened at $165.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.04. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.80 and a 1-year high of $199.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Bank of America raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Maxim Group initiated coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Loop Capital cut their target price on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.34.

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.